#42 Be the Santa You Want to Be!

#42 Be the Santa You Want to Be! « Glorious Bites /* */#header h1 a {color: #fff !important;} Taking a Bite Out of Media's BytesGlorious BitesHomeAbout« #41 Epic Fail: Please Move on Because the Internet Has#43 Ciroc: Trending Now »#42 Be the Santa You Want to Be!

I love Christmas time. Who doesn’t? It’s a season of shopping, gift giving, family, friends and merriment! But as a chick who’s highly allergic to sappy, cheesy scenarios, it can also be the season of intense eye-rolling.

Which is why I like Sears’ “Be the Santa you want to be” campaign.

The television commercials don’t gush any of that “It’s so beautiful I could cry!” crud at you that most other advertisers seem to default to. Instead, they portray humorous characters that we can all say remind us of someone we know.

The commercials are meant to lead shoppers to Sears‘ website, where contests corresponding to the characters from the ads are arranged according to date. Basically, as a visitor to the site, you choose the Santa that best describes how and when you like to get your Christmas shopping done, and enter the contest.

Apparently I'm the Procrastisanta, which sounds about right.

Each Santa category winner gets awarded a different prize. Savvysantas enter to win a $5,000 Sears shopping spree. Santamazings write an essay about their favorite charities and how Sears can “blow them away.” The winning essay writer gets a $250 Sears gift card. Powersantas write in to Sears telling them how they prepare for Black Friday for a chance to win a $3,000 power pre-opening shopping spree during Sears Black Friday. One winning family of the many that enter the Santabulous contest get a makeover with a stylist and photographer. Finally, Procrastisanta contestants get to give Sears an excuse for why they haven’t been able to buy their friends and family gifts as of yet, and the entrant with the winning story wins up to $15,000 worth of prizes.

To spread word, Sears uploaded videos to its Youtube account that feature an original Santa character meeting each of the characters above. Their take on Santa, a grumpy, middle-aged man who has no passion for Christmas left after centuries of celebrating the holiday is hilarious. He reminds me of comedian Zach Galifianakis. What do you think? Here he is being taught a lesson from SavvySanta:

They also have a humorous reality-tv-esque portion of the campaign where people who fall under each of the Santa categories above are interviewed about their Christmas shopping and preparation habits. They of course are hired actors and are not real people. Here’s Santabulous!

Watch the rest of the videos on their Youtube channel, they’re hilarious!

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This entry was posted on December 3, 2010, 9:43 am and is filed under Brands, Fun, Holidays, Humorous, Interactive campaigns, Prize incentive, Social good, Youtube. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Jury finds Arviso guilty of first degree murder in Santa Nella store clerk's killing

After less than a day of deliberations, a jury found Edward Arviso guilty of first-degree murder Monday for the brutal stabbing of a man during a 2007 convenience store robbery.

The victim, Fahd Mohammed Moshin Hussein, was the manager of the Santa Nella Market on Highway 33. He was an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Bosnia.

Arviso shook his head and exhaled heavily after Judge Brian McCabe read the jury's verdict. Meanwhile, more than 20 of Hussein's friends and family members breathed a sigh of relief. One family member pumped his fist after the jury's verdict was released. Another whispered, "Yes!"

Arviso wasn't only found guilty of first degree-murder and robbery, but also three special circumstances, including torture. Arviso committed the robbery with an accomplice, David Fagundes, who testified against the defendant as a condition of a plea agreement.

Hussein's second cousin, Kassim Shaibi, said he was glad Arviso was convicted but said it wasn't enough. Shaibi and his family wanted Arviso to receive the death penalty.

"It seems like even jail is too simple," Shaibi said. "Like they say -- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

Shaibi understands the dangers of working in convenience stores. He's the second-generation owner of a shop in the East Bay city of Pittsburg. He was shot seven times with .40-caliber bullets during a robbery at his store seven months ago. With scars on his torso, arms and legs, Shaibi knows he's lucky to be alive.

Arviso and his accomplice didn't have to kill Hussein -- they could have robbed him and let him go, Shaibi said.

The pair took $600 to $700 from the store, in addition to the victim's wallet, store keys and the digital video recorder from the store's surveillance system. Blood found on Arviso's shirt was matched to the victim.

Fagundes pleaded no contest in 2008 to manslaughter, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment charges in connection with Hussein's death. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and agreed to testify against Arviso as a condition of his plea agreement.

Khaled Hussein, the victim's older brother, said though nothing will bring back his brother, he felt some vindication with the jury's verdict. Arviso probably will spend the rest of his life in prison. "They did a great job. These are great citizens that made this decision," Khaled Hussein said.

Arviso has a prior conviction for attempted first-degree burglary in 1984, which could extend his sentence.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt, prosecutor in the case, said Arviso, 49, and Fagundes, 40, lured Hussein to a bait tank in the store during the early morning hours of Jan. 25, 2007.

Arviso then hit Hussein in the back of the head with a wrench, knocking him to the ground, Nutt said.

Bleeding profusely, Hussein was dragged to a storage room where he was bound with a large zip-lock tie, Nutt said.

Arviso then stabbed Hussein in the head nine times with a fillet knife until the handle broke off, an act that took considerable strength, Nutt said.

"The knife blade had to go through bone," Nutt said during closing arguments Friday. "How much hatred, malice, ill will did it require for this defendant to drive the knife blade through Fahd Hussein's skull?"

Nutt said Arviso didn't just want to kill Hussein, but wanted to make him suffer.

Arviso is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. March 29 in Courtroom 5 of the Merced County Superior Court.

Managing Editor Victor Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.

Reporter Mike North can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or mnorth@mercedsun-star.com.

View the original article here