Snowman, Ad Illustration 1950

This is an advertisement illustration of a girl and a snowman, made by Haddon Sundblom. Here we see not just a snowman, but a modern idol—a symbol of winter joy and communal creation, with roots stretching back to pre-Christian winter celebrations. The snowman, adorned with a carrot nose and coal eyes, echoes ancient rituals of personifying the season's harshness. The girl, with her radiant smile, mirrors the "epiphany" of warmth and cheer, a visual echo of festivals where effigies of winter were paraded and then dismantled, marking winter's symbolic end. Consider the scarecrow, a figure of agricultural protection, whose image also undergoes seasonal transformations, reflecting both hope and fear. Similarly, the snowman embodies a collective memory of surviving winter’s challenges. It's a tradition revived, transformed, and imbued with a new, commercial vibrancy. Through this modern rendering, Sundblom taps into our deepest seasonal psyche. We are reminded that even a transient figure of snow can carry the weight of cultural memory, evoking laughter and a bittersweet acknowledgement of the season's fleeting beauty.