Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer v Christmas Shoes

A reflection on why “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is somehow acceptable while “Christmas Shoes” absolutely is not and how the difference reveals a deeper truth about authenticity in branding, identity, and the way people can instantly sense when something is real vs. emotionally manipulative.

12/8/20252 min read

I listened to a fair amount of Christmas music over the weekend and the classic, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer came on. While I was belting out “she had hoove prints on her forehead,” my 8 year old son said something along the lines of “Is this song about death?” Why yes, yes it is. I had a quick moment of panic though, you may or may not know but I am a pretty staunch advocate for the abolishment of the song, Christmas Shoes. I thought, am I wishy washy with my judgement of christmas songs that talk about paternal loss? Is my son going to see this inconsistency in his dad?

To quickly catch you up on my crusade against the Christmas Shoes song, in short, if it takes a little boys mom dying for you to realize what christmas is all about and then you would sing a song about it (and make the crescendo about you giving him a little money), something is wrong with you.

(I actually had AI re-do this song without anyone’s mom dying last year, enjoy)

Alright, back to my crisis of realizing I do in fact like Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer which also has the death of a parent. How do I explain this to my son that this is okay, while Christmas Shoes is absolutely not.. I went two different ways with it.

  1. GGROBAR is a joke song, not trying to do anything other than make you laugh a bit. While Christmas Shoes, is straight pandering to your emotions around the holidays. Almost like a soulless person asked AI to write a song that would make humans cry.

  2. GGROBAR is a REAL representation of a death around the holidays. A bit of a stretch, but stay with me. While Christmas Shoes is like that 4th cousin who barely talked to the deceased crying harder than the people closest to them. GGROBAR is processing how we humans typically process, some reflection (we’re proud of grandpa), some distraction (card games), a little reality (send those gifts back!).

So, to tie this moment back to branding and identity. GGROBAR is all about authenticity. It’s either just a straight joke song that is catchy and fun and people just latch on or it is a real authentic look into a catastrophe around the holidays that we latch on to. While Christmas Shoes is detached from reality, selfish, and pandering song people can sniff out from a mile away. So this holiday season (and always), be a GGROBAR, be authentic, be who you are. Don’t pander, and make sure to tell your local representative to abolish Christmas Shoes forever.

DIG IN. STAND OUT.