Guest blog: James Hamilton (Errors)

Ah, Christmas. A time to relax, to turn off our brains and forget the crass commercialism which underpins the annual midwinter shopping rush. A time for forgiving and for forgetting, as Cliff once sang.

But sometimes the uneasy brand associations need to be exposed for what they really are. Step forward James Hamilton of Glasgow electronica outfit, Errors...


“Watch out, look around, something’s coming, coming to town…”

And with the repeated refrain of “Holidays are coming”, the Coca Cola corporate truck wheels onto our screens, lighting up towns and cities and making children smile, because more so than end-of-the-year specials being advertised on television, more than the pound shops stocking up on wrapping paper and garish tat as soon as the Halloween decorations have been taken off the shelves on the first of November, and even more than the annual campaigns to get this or that version of this song or whatever to number one in the charts instead of the X Factor, nothing signifies Christmas more than the Coke truck.

An acquaintance of mine once remarked that she didn’t feel “Christmassy” until she had seen that Coke advert on the television. Now, being a staunch agnostic (if such a thing is possible) what right do I have to morally defend a Christian religious festival? If someone wants a soft-drink advert to sum up the message of peace on Earth and good will to all men, who am I, who celebrates a festival founded upon principles and mythology I have no time for, to take umbrage?

Except that I did, and with good reason. And when I was asked by another friend of mine to write a piece for this blog concerning Christmas, I did try my very best to write something jolly, something witty, something positive...

I do enjoy Christmas, and I deplore the easy cynicism with which it can be knocked, especially when your average moaning cynic (hi) will berate the commercialisation of the celebration while actively ignoring the, y’know, “true meaning” of it. Give me a playlist of songs including ‘Christmas Wrapping’ by The Waitresses, ‘Dead Christmas’ by Monster Magnet and ‘Christmas Steps’ by Mogwai (my personal holy trinity of Christmas songs), a hot cup of coffee while perusing freezing cold, busy streets before meeting friends and family who you really, really make an effort to see for once and colour me seasonal.

What won’t colour me seasonal is that truck lighting up the faces of children and models with perfect teeth, who clearly don’t drink Coca Cola on a regular basis lest they have gnashers like Shane McGowan. “All I want for Xmas is my two front teeth” indeed.

The proliferation of the myth that Coca Cola “invented” the modern Santa Claus might have much to do with the corporation's stranglehold on the season to be jolly (they didn’t invent the image of Santa as a jolly, larger-than-life red-and-white suited man; that image of Santa Claus pre-dates the drink, but the image was steamrollered into public consciousness by Coke's ad campaigns featuring the work of illustrator Haddon Sundblom in the 1940s onwards) but, like Simon Cowell’s feeling he has a God-given right to Christmas number one (until last week), it could be discounted as a minor nuisance that a massive conglomerate holds so much sway over Christmas.

The corporation's unethical-to-outright-illegal activities in South America and Africa in particular are well documented (though maybe, one ponders, not well enough... if you’re interested, why not have a look at ‘Criticism of Coca Cola’ on Wikipedia or visit www.killercoke.org).

Unethical big business! Whatever next? Yes, I know it’s hardly news. So why am I so vehemently aggrieved by Coca Cola over any other organisation? Well, I’m not. What I am, is by the attitude that Christmas to a Christian is represented truly by the image of such a corporation. Maybe it’s not the commercialisation of Christmas that bothers me; it’s the fact that it doesn’t bother those who it should, which bothers me. Yes, it bothers me, but I’m not going to let it ruin my Christmas.



Errors return with their second album early in 2010 and embark on a UK tour in February. See their MySpace for details.