Running of the Santas bad for kids, group says

Boston Herald - by Jessica Heslam and James Hinton - 12/12/08

Scores of beer-sodden, booze-soaked pub crawlers dressed up like St. Nick plan to hit the Hub’s streets during tomorrow’s “Running of the Santas” - an annual, nationwide drinkfest that has infuriated parents and watchdog groups.

“Santa Claus is a treasured icon for children,” said Eric Helmuth, spokesman for Join Together, a Boston University health group that is fighting the jolly pub crawl. Helmuth said he’s concerned about the effect on kids who see “Santa careening through the streets drinking or going from pub to pub.”

Helmuth claimed the event’s corporate sponsor, MillerCoors, is violating the Beer Institute’s voluntary advertising and marketing code, which prohibits the use of Santa to promote beer. Join Together, affiliated with BU’s School of Public Health, is urging people to file complaints with the Beer Institute and send copies to the Federal Trade Commission.

“We’re not trying to be killjoys. We’re just asking MillerCoors and its wholesalers to be responsible,” Helmuth said.

Touted as “the world’s naughtiest pub crawl,” the “Running of the Santas” raises money to fight pediatric cancer and is set to take place in 25 cities tomorrow, according to the event’s Web site. MillerCoors didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The holiday crawl kicks off at noon at An Tain and then heads to Kitty O’Sheas and the Good Bar before ending up at McFadden’s - the “North Pole” - where there’s “no cover for Santas!”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C., watchdog group, has filed a complaint with the Beer Institute and blasted MillerCoors.

“Clothing a children’s symbol in beer may not be the message we want to send to children in this country,” said George Hacker of CSPI’s alcohol policies project.

The Hub bars hosting the event say it’s good for business - and patrons - in a tough economy.

Julia Auger, head bartender at An Tain, said the bar gets packed with men dressed like Santa. Kitty O’Shea’s manager Artie Lucas said it’s a boon to business. “We should get people in the holiday season this year,” said Good Bar manager Christina Morgan. McFadden’s manager Chuck Barbato called it “good holiday fun.”

But one mom approached by the Herald, Telma Papalardo of Cambridge, said, “It’s going to kill off the image of Santa. If they get drunk and stay in a pub that’s fine, but outside, it’s damaging to Santa’s image.”

Here’s a message from SportsFanParadise to all the overprotective activist mothers out there: Give it a fucking rest.

First of all, if you don’t want 6-year-old Sally to see a bunch of drunk kids dressed as Santa Clause then you should tell her to get her ass out of dive bars at noon on a fucking Saturday (that was in no way meant to be disrespectful to An Tain…the quoted bartender knows its my favorite establishment). So what if these bars lie smack in between 4 major T stops, the Aquarium and the Children’s Museum? If you’re walking around the Financial District on the weekend you must really need a beer, so join the crawl.

As a veteran of the Running of the Santas, I can tell you that it is nothing but good, clean holiday fun. I could see groups taking issue with an Easter pub-crawl called The Resurrection: How Many Bars Can You Get To Before They Put You Back On The Cross? But this is Santa Claus. He’s a fucking cartoon. If you take your kids to McFadden’s on October 31st I can guarentee you’ll see at least one drunk Spongebob or slutty Barbie, but I don’t hear Telma Papalardo bitching about Halloween.

P.S. It took 2 people to write that article?