Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The fight back

Spanish children traditionally receive presents on January 6 from the Three Kings who are said to have followed the Star of Bethlehem bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.

In recent years though, Santa Claus has become popular during the holiday season, helped by Hollywood films and shops eager to use his image to persuade parents to buy more toys.

Now, a Spanish advertising agency is fighting back with a campaign including posters on the streets of Madrid and a rap video criticizing Santa in a bid to win back the festive season for the Three Kings.

In the video, three rapping Kings backed by dancing girls, taunt Santa as an overweight import whose red costume was popularised by a Coca Cola advertising campaign. "We're the Three Kings -- who the Hell are you?" they chant in the video which ends with Father Christmas being machine gunned in an alley.

In the video, the rapping kings give a phone number for elves to call if Santa has exploited them in his factory, make fun of his trouser size and tell him to stay out of Spain. You can even play with the Santa voo-doo doll online too. "Ho, ho, ho? You clown," says one of the kings, as one of them passes a finger menacingly across his throat.

Of course Spanish children would love to celebrate both Christmas and the Three Kings with presents on both occasions. At least there is some sense to that. The Islamic children I taught at Anfield, didn't seem to understand that is was wrong for them to celebrate both Eid and Christmas.

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