Target’s Buff Santa Is Back. Can He Deliver the Brand From Its Troubles?

Can a hunky Santa deliver relief from Target’s enduring struggles? For a second year in a row, the $106 billion national retailer is hoping the character can at least be a warm and welcoming messengar though the holiday season.This fall, Target announced its Step Into the Holidays campaign with a big emphasis: “Kris K. is back.” The company launched the campaign last year showcasing a youngish, dashing Santa. As a woman in last year’s ad put it: “It was Santa Claus. And he’s, like, weirdly hot.” The ad got attention everywhere from Tik Tok to the New York Times, so he was due for an encore. This time, ads show a fuller view of Kris’ personality, as he highlights his top gifts, watches football, sings karaoke and goes on dates.“Kris K. from Target captured hearts last holiday season,” Michelle Mesenburg, Target’s SVP for creative and content, said in a statement. “He embodies the playful joy, ease and inspiration that define the Target experience — helping you find the perfect gifts, celebrate every moment and make the season shine a little brighter.”Target has been in the midst of a new strategic plan on “creating today's Tarzhay, offering everyday discovery and delight for millions of families and ensuring Target is a consumer favorite for years to come,” then-CEO Brian Cornell said earlier this year. That has included a huge investment in marketing efforts, including this multi-pronged holiday campaign. Sarah Nesheim, a brand expert and co-founder of the social-media driven branding firm Crafted, isn’t convinced that marketing alone can fully correct course on the company’s recent struggles. She traces Target’s branding issue to 2023, when the company removed some displays celebrating Pride Month from store shelves after social media posts about its “woke” merchandise and threats against the safety of its workers, then faced further backlash from LGBTQ+ and human rights groups who said Target wasn’t standing by the community.This January, Target joined a number of other U.S. companies in dropping its diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Black shoppers responded with a well-publicized, 40-day boycott over its decision to cave to right-wing pressure on diverse hiring goals. While CEO Brian Cornell tried to re-emphasize Target’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, Target announced his resignation in August.Flip-flopping rarely works to cement a retailer’s brand identity and build customer loyalty. “It dilutes the brand identity and confuses customers,” Nesheim told From Day One. Consistent messaging of a brand like Costco — which sticks to customer value, even promising not to raise the price of its famous $1.50 hotdog — is a more effective strategy, she adds. Costco also stuck with its DEI programs, along with companies like Levi Strauss & Co.Target’s identity crisis strained already-existing retail challenges. “It’s made them less resilient to pressures like tariffs and Americans spending less,” Nesheim added.So while shopper boycotts rarely hurt major companies’ bottom line, the one in January did. Sales at Target, which has almost 2,000 stores across the U.S., fell more than expected in the first quarter of 2025. This summer, executives candidly included the DEI boycott in the list of reasons why the sales were down: “This was remarkable because a concession like that does not happen often,” NPR business correspondent Aline Selyukh said at the time.Sales from both physical stores and online channels had also been flat or declining in nine out of the past 11 quarters, PBS reported in August. In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company planned to lay off around 1,000 global corporate employees and eliminate 800 open positions. So will a hot Santa usher in some actual magic? “It’s a cute campaign,” Nesheim acknowledges, “but it still doesn’t tell me anything about what Target stands for.” Still, there’s effort by the retailer to make bigger changes. The new chief executive, 20-year Target veteran Michael Fiddelke, starts in February. He has outlined three immediate priorities: rebuilding Target’s merchandising strategy, improving the in-store experience, and investing in technology. The holiday campaign is meant to emphasize the brand’s store experience and value. Target also just made news for its new directive asking store employees to smile, make eye contact, and greet or wave when a shopper comes within 10 feet of them. “Heading into the holiday, we’re making adjustments and implementing new ways to increase connection during the most important time of the year,” Chief Stores Officer Adrienne Costanzo said in a statement.The company found that key consumer metrics rose when shoppers were greeted or acknowledged. The company will also work to improve in-stock levels, spruce up its stores, and host in-store demos and events throughout the holidays.And in the social-media world, Target hopes Kris K. can help kindle a new vibe. A video on Target’s official Instagram page, reports USAToday, shows a buff, “charismatic store team member” dressed as Santa, lifting weights (two red baskets filled with store items), which prompted one social-media user to muse, “Will there be one in every store?”  In her two-decade career, Emily Nonko has written about social justice, urbanism, real estate and housing as a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. In 2020, she co-founded Empowerment Avenue, a nonprofit supporting creative work from incarcerated people, and oversaw its writing cohort, where the group supported hundreds of stories publishing in mainstream media outlets from incarcerated writers around the country.(Featured image courtesy of Target)