Christmas Countdown: 24 Days to Go!
December 2nd! He’s GETTING CLOSER! As part of our countdown to Christmas, I thought it’d be fun to post a classic Christmas commercial every day until Christmas Day (and maybe a few days after) to get us all into the holiday spirit.
Today’s classic is a 1985 spot from Polaroid which combines the magic of Santa with a really nice product demo. The YouTube caption notes:
UPDATE: These two kids now work for the NSA, and Santa is serving a suspended sentence for multiple breaking-and-entering charges
This is an early example of the type of film-making approach to commercials which dominated the mid-’80s through mid-’90s, and the lush shadows and depth of this commercial are really quite spectacular. I’m impressed with the way that Polaroid used the look of the commercial to reflect on the quality of photograph — some very nice sub-text on this one around memories and color.
And in recent news, the Polaroid Company is BACK. The Impossible Project (now known as Polaroid Originals) saved the last Polaroid film factory a few years ago and they’ve been selling film and re-conditioning cameras ever since. They brought out their first new camera last year, and over the last 12 months they’ve re-purchased the Polaroid brand name and come out with a modern version of the OneStep camera, which is wonderful. I love the fact that we can be super modern and super classic at the same time — it’s the best time to be alive!
Welcome back, analog! Merry Christmas!