Rudolph Call and Response Research

On December 4th, I created and shared a quiz to collect data on how people from different generations and areas respond to the Rudolph song around the world. The data was fascinating. Over 2500 people responded! Some interesting findings are below! (Link to Survey)

He'll go down in history..... Like George Washington? Columbus? Toothpaste?

Regional Trends: Those who respond with Columbus tend to be older and group in 2 parts of the country! RED areas below pick Columbus... The chart on the right indicates the decade respondents were born in. Canadians slightly favor Columbus also, but in England, Batman rules! Australia was all over the board, but page numbers ruled. ("Go down in history, on page 103", for example. ) Note that the one response from France *was* Napoleon :)

Generational Trends: Older respondents were much more likely to say Rudolph goes down in history like Columbus!

Reindeer Games.... Like Monopoly? Football? Hoofball?

Regional Trends: Monopoly is by far the winner here, but in some countries like England and Canada as well as some states like Texas and Ohio, "Football" is used!

Generational Trends: Monopoly started by the 50's, but really took off in the 70's. Football has declined over time as seen in the graph below.

They used to laugh and call him names.... Like Pinocchio? Like Dumbo? Fudgeface? Nose-Alert? Mudface? The list goes on!

Generational Information: They have always apparently called him Pinocchio, but so many others exist! Pinocchio rose in popularity, peaking with those born in the 80's, but is still going strong. Dumbo had a strong showing with earlier generations, but seems to be making a comeback with 90's kids and beyond!

Regional information: In the US, there was little regional variety. "Stupid" had a strong showing in Canada, where Pinocchio still reins. Australia was the only other country to list Pinocchio strongly. Dumbo rules England, where Pinocchio still pulls about 1/3rd of the responses.

And they shouted out with glee..... Yippee!!!! Whoopee! Glee! Rah Rah Sis Boom Ba! Will ya marry me?!

Generational Information: Yippee!! (spelled approximately 48k ways) was by far the winner across the generations as a WRITE in response. That said, it first was reported in small numbers by those born in the 50's and 60's, but has risen up to roughly 2/3rds overall by the kids from the 80's and 90's! YeeeHaaaa started relatively strongly, but has fallen over time as seen below. Wheeeeee was as strong as Yippee in the 60's, but fell very quickly. Whoopee surged in the 80's, but has also fallen off.

Regional Information: Texas was by far the most likely to "YeeHaaa" to the surprise of no-one. Yippee ruled all countries with enough data to report on, however our sole respondents in Norway, Malaysia, Sweeden, and Germany, and France had the following to say: Wheeee, Wheeee, Wheeee, Rudolph, Whoopee!!! Canada did report strong showings from "glee" and "YeeHaaa," but "Yippee" still led the way.

Like the Toothpaste! Gleam toothpaste was a strong brand in the 50's and fizzled out in the 60's for the most part. This influenced 2 sections of the song. "And they shouted out with glee... like the toothpaste" was strongest in the 50's, and was gone by the 70's. "You'll go down in history...Like toothpaste" began appearing in the 70's and has gotten stronger through the youngest generation with relevant information reported! Several respondents reported that they had no idea why any of the song had anything to do with toothpaste.

His nose so bright.... like a Lightbulb! Stoplight! Flashlight! Fog Light! Red Bulb!

First, an apology: I now realize that the question I posed on nose so bright had a major flaw. Some respondents reported that they have a call and response to 2 parts of the phrase, which led to skewed responses. His nose glows "like a flashlight" and is so bright "like a light bulb." Who knew? Nonetheless, the results here were not varied worldwide.

Regional Trends: None. Lightbulb pulled in a whopping 94.6% of the votes and there was no statistical variance among states/countries.

Generational Trends: Not much... 60's kids reported 96.5% use of Light Buib, 70's pulled in 98%, and 80's had 94.5%. Flashlight rose to from 0.5% of 70's kids to 4.5% for the 80's and 90's kids, but still isn't a real contender.

Cause and Effect: It has been suggested that John Denver's release of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on a lullaby record in 1990 which included call and responses may have been the cause of the trends, however there are a few key problems with this. First, the responses from John Denver's release were already strongly trending (and mostly in decline) at the time of the release. Second, the children in the song responded with "bright like a glow worm." In over 2500 responses to my survey, not one mentioned glow worm!"