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Santa Claus’s sleigh will be accompanied by missiles this Christmas Eve. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has updated its annual Santa tracker to include a fighter jet escort.
The popular program that gives kids and parents “real time” updates on Santa’s trip from the North Pole solicited 22 million viewers last year. But this year parents are worried that the gambit has become too militarized.
The videos on the NORAD website previewing this year’s flight are tinged with an undertone of a possible military threat. “It’s still cutesy since it’s for kids, but we don’t want people to lose sight of our true mission,” Jeff Davis, Navy Captain and NORAD spokesman, told the Boston Globe.
Child advocates disagree. “Children associate Santa with gifts and fun and everything else that is positive about Christmas,” said Allen Kanner, a California child and family psychologist and cofounder of the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. “They are associating this with the military in children’s minds. It is completely out of line.”