Christmas: Coca Cola and the Santa Connection

 Did you know Santa wasn't always depicted as a jolly bearded fat man ....

In fact the most well know version of Santa we have today is largely thanks to the marketing efforts of the Coca Cola Company...

Before  1931, Santa came in many different form's ranging from  a tall slender man to a very creepy -looking elf and almost everything in between....

In some area's he was seen as  Norse Huntsman in animal skins and in others he was dressed in a similar fashion to that of  a  bishop's robe.

There are regional differences in the type of suit that Santa Claus wears.

Usually in  United Kingdom  and the USA  Santa wears a red jacket and pants with white fur trim,  a broad buckled belt, a matching hat, and black boots.

 In other area's of  European  Austria for instance Santa is called Saint Nicholas  and is seen with a  long robe and a Bishop's mitre^.
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 During the American Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew his version of Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly in 1862, Santa was shown as a small gnome or elf like being who supported the Union.

Nast continued to draw Santa for 30 years, changing the color of his coat from tan originally and ending with the red that we know today.

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                                  Nast Santa in red 1881

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The Coca-Cola Company first started there Christmas advertising in the 1920s with  newspaper's and magazines like on of the first was  The Saturday Evening Post.

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In 1930, artist Fred Mizen painted a department-store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke. The ad featured the world's largest soda fountain, which was located in the department store Famous Barr Co. in St. Louis, Mo. Mizen's painting was used in print ads that Christmas season, appearing in The Saturday Evening Post in December 1930.

                                           Fred Mizen  - Santa 1930

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 In 1931 Coke began placing Coca-Cola ads in other popular magazines of the time.

Archie Lee, the D'Arcy Advertising Agency executive working with The Coca-Cola Company, wanted to show a Santa who was both realistic and symbolic.

Coca-Cola hired Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using Santa Claus — showing Santa himself, not a man dressed as Santa.

One of  Sundblom main source of inspiration was  Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem  Twas the Night Before Christmas. 

Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of a warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human Santa. (And even though it's often said that Santa wears a red coat because red is the color of Coca-Cola, Santa appeared in a red coat before Sundblom painted him.

Sundblom’s Santa first debuted in 1931 in Coke ads in The Saturday Evening Post and appeared regularly in that magazine, as well as in Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, The New Yorker and many others.

From 1931 to 1964, Coca-Cola showed Santa delivering toys , reading a child's christmas letter and of course enjoy a cold Coke.

 The original oil paintings Sundblom created were adapted for Coca-Cola advertising in magazines and on store displays, billboards, posters, calendars and plush dolls. Many of those items today are sot after by memorabilia collectors.
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Mr. Sundblom created his last version of Santa in 1964, Coca-Cola advertising featured his images of Santa for decades afterwords . 

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These paintings are some of the most prized pieces in the art collection in the Cola  company’s archives department and have been on exhibit around the world, in famous locations..

 Many of his Original paintings can be seen at the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta, Georgia.

Other places they have been featured ...

 The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

The Louve in Paris, France.

 The NK Department Store in Stockholm, Sewden.

The Isetan Department Store in Tokyo, Japan.