I learned at work yesterday that the modern image of Santa Claus (short, fat, red suit, and a big white beard) was created by Coca-Cola in the early 1900s as part of an advertising campaign.
Taken by Jason Garber.
I learned at work yesterday that the modern image of Santa Claus (short, fat, red suit, and a big white beard) was created by Coca-Cola in the early 1900s as part of an advertising campaign.
Comments
twatson
Damn! I wish I’d thought of this first.
Mark Howells-Mead
“Images of Santa Claus were […] popularized through Haddon Sundblom’s depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was in fact invented by Coca-Cola or that Santa wears red and white because they are the Coca-Cola colors. In reality, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising – White Rock Beverages used Santa to sell mineral water in 1915 and then in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923. Furthermore, the massive campaign by Coca-Cola simply popularized the depiction of Santa as wearing red and white, in contrast to the variety of colours he wore prior to that campaign; red and white was originally given by Thomas Nast.”
Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SantaClaus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThomasNast www.whiterocking.org/santa.html
Jody Ma Nei
Did you see the new Coca-cola bottles they have out? I guess they’re suppose to be “stocking stuffers”, but they’re small little balls filled with the soda.. It’s weird!