This Christmas season, Old Navy and Disney are working to make Santa Claus a more diverse symbol.
Earlier this month, Old Navy – a clothing store company owned by the multinational corporation Gap Inc. – announced ALL-idays, an inclusivity campaign. Included in the campaign is the 30-minute Santa Boot Camp and is “encouraging any person who wants to play the role of Santa this year - be it professionally, in their community, or for their family - to sign up for the inclusive training program.”
According to a 2017 Tampa Bay Times report, more than 95 percent of a pool of 700 people who take up the Santa mantle for various businesses and organizations during the holiday season identified as white. As of 2019 around 76 percent of the U.S. population was white, per U.S. Census Bureau data.
“I’m not about politics and I’m a faith-based Santa, so I know I am not the reason for the season and I’m happy to share that with anyone willing to listen,” said Dion “Santa Dee” Sinclair, a Black man who portrays Santa and is a trainer for the Old Navy program, told NBC News. “But if I’m not your kind of Santa, that’s OK. I will keep smiling and wishing the kids Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.”
Sinclair is 57 and said he “became Santa Claus” around 20 years ago, according to the outlet.
“There aren’t a lot of Santas out there who're like me,” said Sinclair. “It’s even harder to find an Asian Santa. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Diversity is a current challenge in the Santa industry.
Less than 5 percent of all professional Santas in the U.S. identify as people of color, while almost half of children under the age of 15 in the U.S.
identify as non-white,” said Old Navy. “Last year, Old Navy introduced its skin-tone Santa prints, depicting Santa in three different skin tones across styles for the family. This year, the brand hopes to extend that concept from product to the real world.”
In addition to Old Navy, Disney appears to be inviting more diverse Santa representations to its parks this year. According to CNN, Disney theme parks in the U.S. are including a Black Santa Claus in Christmas celebrations this year for the first time in the company's 66-year theme park history.
Disney didn’t make an official announcement, said the outlet. However, visitors at parks in Anaheim, Calif., and Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., have seen Black Santas at certain meet-and-greets and at after-hours Christmas parties.
A Disney spokesperson told CNN that Santa Claus will reflect the diversity of surrounding communities at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort.
In the past decade, the Mall of America also welcomed it first Black Santa. However, this move was greeted with online backlash.
Various communities in the U.S. have their own versions of the jolly Christmas icon, including “Shogun Santa” in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo and Houston’s zoot suit-wearing “Pancho Santa.”
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Santa Claus (or St. Nicholas) was most likely a bishop from Turkey. He has since become a staple of modern Christmas imagery and storytelling around the world.
“Santa is constantly evolving,” said veteran Santa Timothy Connaghan, founder of School4Santas, according to NBC News.
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