Long before kids trusted YouTubers, TikTok experts, or parenting influencers with ring lights and affiliate links, they trusted one guy. He wore the same outfit every year and never bothered to rebrand. There were no daily updates, no carefully timed posts. Santa showed up once, did the job, and disappeared for another eleven months.
Santa Claus was the original influencer, and he didn’t need the internet.
How December Turned Into a Seminar
This week, the internet once again discovered Santa Claus and decided he needed to be explained. A group of mom influencers announced they were “ditching Santa,” framing the tradition as dishonest, consumerist, and emotionally suspect. According to this line of thinking, letting kids believe in Santa isn’t festive. It’s practically a moral failing.
The arguments followed a familiar script. Santa is a lie, lies damage trust, and trust must be preserved at all costs, especially among preschoolers who are convinced they can outrun their own shadow.
The tone was earnest, instructional, and deeply confident that everyone else has been doing Christmas wrong.
One mom influencer announced she is not “doing Santa” because, in her view, the tradition builds a relationship on lies and teaches children to tie their worth to performance. She also warned that the Santa story feeds consumerism and suggested that other myths are more valid than a man living at the North Pole.
We’re not doing Santa in our house
It sets up a foundational and delicate relationship upon lies.
The Santa narrative also feeds a consumerism-driven value system, where a child’s “worthiness” gets tied to performance for the year.
According to this logic, Santa is now responsible for moral development, consumer habits, and a child’s future relationship with authority. Which is wild, considering he works one night a year and communicates exclusively through cookies.
The performance concern is the funniest part. Santa, apparently, sends the wrong message by suggesting behavior matters.
Meanwhile, kids will grow up, go to school, get jobs, and be evaluated constantly on performance by people who do not accept milk and baked goods as bribes.
Santa isn’t teaching kids how to behave. He’s a once-a-year visitor with a sweet tooth and a very tight schedule.
But sure. Let’s hold him accountable.
Is Santa the Competition?
Somewhere along the way, Santa stopped being a tradition and started being an irritation to liberals who like to nitpick joy.
Old Saint Nick shows up once a year and immediately takes over the moment. Kids don’t overthink him. They meet Santa, decide he’s legit, and move on with their lives.
That kind of effortless authority seems to bother people who spend a lot of time orchestrating everything else.
He arrives right on schedule and immediately becomes the only thing anyone under ten wants to talk about. Somewhere along the way, focus groups were skipped, and feelings were hurt.
Ironically, Saint Nicholas was a real person who helped people quietly and never asked for credit, which is more than can be said for most modern influencers.
So instead of letting Santa be Santa, the frustration gets rerouted, and suddenly he’s on trial for consumerism, values, and trust.
Meanwhile, the explanation arrives on a platform designed for monetization and to reward attention. The irony deserves its own ornament.
Santa’s Brand Was Effortless
Santa’s brand strategy was remarkably simple. He had an iconic look, a recognizable name, and one annual appearance, all without an algorithm deciding whether he mattered. There was no content calendar and no apology tour.
He didn’t ask kids to smash a like button, sell merch, or pivot his identity to stay relevant. He showed up, ate the cookies, and left.
Compare that to modern influencers, who must constantly perform to stay visible. Santa never chased engagement or posted clarifications. He handled his business and disappeared.
Kids Were Never Confused
What is especially strange about the Santa backlash is the assumption that children are quietly processing “foundational dishonesty.” Kids are not miniature philosophers. They are not auditing their parents’ truth narratives.
They are asking whether animals can understand them and why the moon keeps pace with the car.
Santa was never confusing them. Adults are confusing each other.
Then there is the consumerism argument. Santa keeps getting blamed for a culture he did not create. He did not invent Amazon, Target runs, or unboxing videos. He did not invent the phrase “just one more thing.”
If anything, Santa was a limiter. One night. One list. One delivery. No year-round expectations. Gifts were special because they did not happen every Friday.
Santa never asked to be a symbol. He never logged on and announced a stance. He never demanded belief forever. Kids eventually figure it out, shrug, and move on.
No one is forty years old in therapy because Santa existed.
A lot of this is not really about Santa at all. It is about a cultural impulse to explain everything, deconstruct everything, and strip joy down to footnotes. Nothing is allowed to simply be whimsical. Everything must justify itself.
To the mom influencers who want to ruin Christmas for their kids, fear not, there is nothing to dread.
Santa never tried to be meaningful. He just was.
He gave kids a small window of wonder before reality eventually takes over. None of it required followers, sponsors, or the internet.
Santa shows up briefly and still has more influence than people who never log off. These so-called liberal mom influencers deserve a spot on the naughty list for trying to drain the holiday glow out of Christmas for kids.
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