Target Sets a Holiday Thirst Trap with New Ads Featuring Hunky Santa — and the Internet Is Lusting for 'Daddy Claus'

One of Target's commercials sees the silver fox showing off his muscles and doing bicep curls with a Christmas tree, leaving viewers to joke, "No wonder that kid caught mommy kissing Santa"

The North Pole is turning up the heat this Christmas!

Target rolled out a hunky new take on Santa Claus in a recent set of holiday commercials depicting the infamous jolly man as a lowkey employee at the popular department store.

The role of Kris K. is played by model and actor Brent Bailey, who previously starred in the Amazon movie The Idea of You and episodes of the Lincoln Lawyer and The Morning Show.

The first commercial, “Born to Be Kris,” shows the titular character leaving his seasonally decorated home to drive to a Target location in a red truck. Once he arrives, he gets out of the car and adjusts the Target name tag fixed to his red knit sweater as he approaches the building.

The character has Santa's signature gray hair and beard, but with an overall youthful appearance.

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"Meet Kris, our newest Target Team Member," the store wrote in the caption. "He loves the holidays as much as the next guy. Actually, way more than the next guy. Actually, way more than anyone we know. Actually, more than anyone anyone knows. But hey, that’s not important. What is, is that shiny red Bronco and perfectly coiffed beard."

The store continued to tease the character’s identity, writing, "So, does his last name rhyme with jingle, you ask? HR won’t let us say. But what we can say is we’re so excited to welcome him to the team this season."

The next commercial, "He’s Hot, But These Target Turkey Deals Are Hotter," addresses the elephant in the room. In it, Kris convinces a shopper to take advantage of the store’s deals on turkey. After a woman shopping expresses her disbelief at the affordable price of the poultry, Kris jokes, “Let me know guess, you don’t believe in Santa either?”

As she reacts in confusion, he touches the large freezer container of turkey and uses magic to make it colder. "These turkey deals are the real deal," the star employee says.

The woman then says to her friend on the phone, "Sarah, did you hear that? It was Santa Claus and he’s, like, weirdly hot."

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The third ad, "Kris from Target," gives the silver fox the opportunity to show off his muscles. It opens on Kris and two of his fellow colleagues walking through a Target store, however he is doing bicep curls with a prelit Christmas tree.

When his peer questions his movements, he says, “They’re called tree-cep curls, Molly,” before going on a tangent about how he has a responsibility to deliver toys. Before he reveals his true identity, he quickly cuts himself off and says he has to bring toys to people “all the way around the store.”

He then distracts the two by asking them to take a photo of him with the tree, before saying to one, “Wanna hit the spruce?”

Viewers on social media are going wild over the attractive Santa. One person wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Target has the hottest Santa I’ve ever seen in these commercials.”

Another shared, “Being attracted to the Target Santa was not on my 2024 Bingo Card.”

One fan even joked, "No wonder that kid caught mommy kissing Santa"

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Bailey shared a screenshot of his character looking off into the distance with a smirk on his bearded face from the first commercial on Instagram and encouraged his followers to come up with a creative caption.

“Daddy Claus,” wrote one.

“This year, Santa makes the SLAY bells ring,” commented another.

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In an interview with Adweek, Target EVP and chief marketing officer Lisa Roath described their take on the infamous character as "joyful, helpful, optimistic – characteristics that embody the brand."

She added: "He has that witty edge, and he’s roguishly handsome. He represents our incredible team members, who are the heroes during the holidays and beyond."

The campaign launched on Nov. 17 and will feature a total of nine commercials, per the outlet.