The pictures in this collection were photographed in 1947 when F.A.O. Schwartz set up a direct hotline to Santa Clause in their New York City mega-store. The collection contains six pictures featuring three girls and four boys of about six or seven years old, all over-joyfully smiling as they talk to Santa Clause, who is supposedly jotting down their Christmas list on the other end of the phone. Christmas time serves as the exigence for NPR publishing this collection; it was released early Christmas morning, 2011. This was published in order to remind the audience, parents who may be thinking of down-scaling their Christmas shopping list to save money in this bad economy, that Santa Clause, his presents, and children’s wish lists are part of why Christmas is such a special holiday (purpose). The collection contains many rhetorical devices that heighten this appeal to the audience: the black-and-white scheme and the old telephones signify the past, which reminds the audience of their own childhood Christmases and their own childhood excitement for Santa Clause; the smiles on the children’s faces are a direct appeal to pathos since parents want to make their children as happy as the ones smiling in the photographs; the wide-range of social classes portrayed by the settings and the children's outfits in the picture show that economical standing does not matter when it comes to Christmas, as all children hope for presents from Santa Clause on Christmas morning. NPR used the latter most effectively as they accomplished their purpose; even if we are suffering tough economic times this season, Christmas comes once a year and all children deserve a present or two from Santa.
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