Some respondents to a survey about Santa Claus say the legendary figure could use an image update -- including going female or gender-neutral.
"We all imagine Santa as the bearded old man in his iconic white and red suit, black belt, matching boots and reindeer-drawn sleigh. But what if Father Christmas was rebranded for today?" Logo design company GraphicSprings asked in a survey detailed in a blog post.
GraphicSprings surveyed more than 400 U.S. and United Kingdom residents on how Santa should be changed. It then used the top suggestions to survey 4,000 people on how they envision a 2018 version of Santa.
When it came to Kris Kringle's gender, 10.6 percent responded that Santa should be female, while 17.2 percent said Santa should be gender-neutral. That left just over 70 percent saying Saint Nick should stay male.
In other fields, survey-takers were largely in favor of keeping Father Christmas as-is. More than 90 percent of respondents said Santa shouldn't drink beer, be younger or shave his beard. About 20 percent said he should have tattoos, go on a diet and get a new hairstyle.
Regarding Santa's method for distributing gifts, about 55 percent thought Santa should keep his sleigh. Popular alternatives were using a flying car or Amazon Prime -- both received just over 20 percent of responses.
Twenty to 25 percent of those surveyed said Santa should be modernized in other ways: having an iPhone, wearing sneakers and being "hipster."
A complete breakdown of responses can be found here.
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