How many of us are quite tired – worn out, even – with the current crop of Christmas TV commercials? Frankly, if I never see another ad for the Ove Glove, the Amish heater (compete with “Amish” workers in the background), or the various Chia products, it will be too soon. And my new least favorite? All those bouncy women who give a cookie credit for the enormous amount of weight they have lost. (And, in writing this post, I discovered a great forum – commercialsihate.com).

One of the problems with these ads, of course, is that they have very little to do with Christmas. They air this time of year to flog merchandise, and could run just as easily in June or February. The weight loss ads, in fact, will continue through the first of the year, when so many people make resolutions to lose weight.

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Which brings me to what may have been the best TV Christmas commercial ever – the Norelco Santa Claus. Talk about a harbinger of the season. You knew it was time for the holiday when Santa rode his electric shaver down the hill.

After the jump, a few thoughts and a Norelco commercial:
The Norelco ad was created by David McCall, one of the men who helped build the U.S. ad business after World War II. Among his other efforts: The Maxwell House ”Coffee that tastes as good as it smells” tag line and the Schoolhouse Rock TV show.

Norelco dropped Santa in 1996, save for a brief return in 2002. You can tell the changes in the brand with this, more modern commercial, which isn’t very good. Below, the real thing, courtesy of VHSarchive at YouTube.