Women too can be Santa

Challenging predefined gender roles in our society, Columbia Pacific Communities, the largest senior living community operator, launched a Christmas campaign named ‘Ms Santa’, with a pertinent message for generation alpha – that the future is gender-neutral, and that gender should not decide who or what you want to be.

The campaign essentially was about a social experiment that saw children aged between 6 and 10 years describe their version of Santa Claus to a sketch artist. In every child’s imagination, Santa Claus was described as a man with a big beard and belly, which got reflected in the several portraits that the artist sketched.

Just as the children were looking at their ideas of who Santa Claus comes to life on canvas, three female senior residents of Columbia Pacific Communities in Santa costumes surprised the kids by suddenly appearing before them. While cheering with signature Santa greetings and waves and presenting the kids with gifts, the Santas revealed their true selves. The children looked at them with innocent awe as they realised that Santa does not necessarily have to be a man. Women can be Santa too.

The campaign video:

Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Columbia Pacific Communities, said, “Having lived through the times where gender stereotypes were more rampant than today, our senior residents were more than eager to impart the message of gender neutrality to the next generation. The Ms Santa campaign is aimed at sensitising young children in a fun and non-preachy way that the future is genderless. By presenting Santa as a woman, we attempted to redefine gender roles and re-establish role models for children in their most impressionable years. We wanted seniors to impart this very important message, because children naturally have a strong affinity for all senior citizens, including their grandparents.”

The initiative witnessed enthusiastic participation from senior residents of Columbia Pacific Communities who were excited to impart transformative, paradigm-shifting learning to the future generations.

Seniors established themselves as role models for a life, thereby becoming true embodiments of the brand’s core philosophy of positive ageing.