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Bloomingdale’s is facing backlash from guests for having Santa Claus wear green.
The brand’s flagship store — located on 59th Street in Manhattan, New York — is having a Wicked-themed Christmas this year. To celebrate the iconic pink and green colors in the recently released Jon M Chu film, Bloomingdale’s “Santaland” will be “Oz-themed,” as noted in a press release by the department store’s owner, Macy’s.
When visiting the “reimagined Santaland,” which opened in the store on November 13, children can meet Santa in “an enchanted forest with a pink and green twist and fitted out with a yellow brick road.”
To fit the theme of the holiday at Bloomingdale’s, Santa will not be wearing his usual white and red suit. Instead, he’s dressed in a green and gold costume, paired with a matching dark green hat.
However, many parents and children were left disappointed by the decision to change Santa’s iconic costume. According to The New York Post, one mother took to a local Facebook group to warn parents that the flagship store is “offering a green Santa.”
“We left a bit disappointed without a photo,” she wrote. “I just wanted to share in case other people were thinking about taking their kids to see Santa and want a traditional photo.”
Another mother named Melanie added: “Leave Santa alone. Not everything needs to be changed or challenged.
“No reason to have a green Santa except to promote a movie in an already overly commercialized holiday. Green Santa is stupid … Hard pass.”
According to one of the workers at Santland who’s dressed as an elf, one baby started crying when they saw Santa in Bloomingdale’s last Saturday (December 7). “I think it’s because he’s green,” the worker told The Post.
Another parent explained that he prepared his children for meeting a Santa wearing green instead of red, saying: “It can throw some kids off — we told them in advance.”
Santa Doug himself, who’s been the in-house Santa for Bloomingdale’s since 2019, said he was only made aware of this year’s costume change last month.
However, he said it hasn’t been the children who are taking issue with his outfit.
“It’s mostly the adults who ask, ‘Why aren’t you in red, Santa?’” he explained to The Post, noting he usually responds to the question with a laugh and says: “Well, we’re in the Emerald City,” referring to the capital of the land of Oz in Wicked.
A representative from Bloomingdale’s told The Independent that the company itself has not received any negative feedback about Santaland this year.
In addition to having the opportunity to meet Santa in Bloomingdale’s, children can visit the “magic station,” where they can “grab wand-shaped lollipops and Wicked-themed bracelets.” The store is also offering its annual limited edition holiday bears, but this time with a twist. The two stuffed animals are pink and green, inspired by the main characters in the film, Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (played by Ariana Grande.
The Bloomingdale’s holiday setup comes amid the movie’s massive box office success. Wicked: Part One — which was released on November 22 — brought in $114 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters within the first weekend. The first part of the Universal Pictures film grossed $50.2 million in international markets, for a combined global total of $164.2 million. The film also became the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation after only eight days in theaters.
