It introduces a young reindeer buck whose biggest asset was his luminous red nose.
Because of his different appearance, he was mocked and excluded from the rest of his clan as this trait was not shared by the others. In the story, Santa Claus noticed the light beaming from his nose and asked Rudolph to step up to take the lead on the sleigh ride one Christmas Eve. After he agreed, his reindeer clan saw his potential and included him to feel part of the group.
The story of Rudolph was presented in the holiday season of 1938, when Bob May, a copywriter for a US retail enterprise, Montgomery Ward, took to his pen after struggling with an ill wife and vulnerable four-year old daughter.
During an evening of distress, May’s daughter asked her father why her mother was not like everybody else’s. At first he found it hard to answer her, and then remembered the hurt he experienced as a child, as a sickly boy who was teased and bullied.
After relating to his daughter’s emotions, he realised he wanted to give her hope instead of feeling she was different and secluded. He wanted her to know that he would always take care of her with love and support. From that moment, he started to write about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. After his wife passed away, May finished the book for his daughter.
He attended a company party at Montgomery Ward where his co-workers encouraged him to share the story he had written. He received a standing ovation and Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book. For the next six years, at Christmas, the company gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers.
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