US gets uptight over Christmas

Tinsel, holly, reindeer and chestnuts roasting on an open fire may all sound like legitimate Yuletide icons this side of the pond, but in the US political correctness is stifling the use of such images on seasonal packaging.

Libby Perszyk Kathman in Cincinnati was asked to design mega inoffensive festive packaging for Archway Cookies. The designs had to be non-sectarian to develop broader consumer appeal for those cookie eaters who do not choose to celebrate the religious festival of Christmas.

“Too much Christmas in package wrapping can hurt,” warns LPK vice-president Jerome Kathman.

So from now on perhaps Christmas cards should sport a chronologically challenged guardian figure aloft an environmentally friendly form of transport towed by four-legged Scandinavian mammals. Or then again, perhaps not.