What image comes to mind when most people think of Santa Claus today? Most likely a jolly, white-bearded old man in a red suit trimmed with white fur. That near-universal image owes much to Coca-Cola advertising campaigns that started in the early 1930s. To be sure, the company did not invent Santa Claus, nor even the idea of Santa wearing red. However, it standardized, popularized, and globally disseminated a specific visual version of the character that has since become dominant.
Sundblom’s Santa Was Created to Sell Coca-Cola in Winter
Before Coca-Cola’s involvement, Santa Claus existed in many competing forms. His roots lay in St. Nicholas of Myra, a fourth-century Christian bishop known for generosity and gift-giving. That figure evolved through European folklore into characters such as Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, and Father Christmas in England. In the United States during the nineteenth century, Santa’s image was still fluid. He appeared variously as tall or short, thin or stout, stern or playful, elf-like or human. His clothing ranged from brown, green, blue, or tan robes to fur-lined garments of different colors. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast, working for Harper’s Weekly from the 1860s onward, helped define some familiar elements. He came up with Santa’s North Pole workshop, and his list of naughty and nice children. However, even Nast’s Santa varied widely in appearance over time.
By the early twentieth century, Santa was well established in American culture. However, there was not yet a single, fixed visual standard. That was the context in which Coca-Cola entered the picture. In 1931, the company sought to boost winter sales – a challenge for a cold beverage traditionally associated with summer refreshment. Coca-Cola wanted to let people know that its drink wasn’t just for hot summer months, but was ideal year round. The company’s advertising agency commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create a Santa Claus who would embody warmth, friendliness, and approachability. Such qualities could make people associate Coca-Cola with comfort and pleasure even in winter.
A Decades-Long Campaign
Sundblom’s Santa was inspired in part by Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, commonly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”, which described Santa as a “jolly old elf” with a round belly that “shook, when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly”. Sundblom drew on that literary source for an oil painting of Santa. His version was a life-sized, human grandfather figure, rather than a small, fairy-like being. He gave him a broad, friendly face, rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes, and a hearty smile.
Sundblom’s Santa was someone who looked genuinely kind and trustworthy. The red suit with white trim, often mistakenly credited solely to Coca-Cola, predated the company’s ads. However, Sundblom’s illustrations made that color scheme iconic by consistently pairing Santa’s outfit with Coca-Cola’s own red branding. The visual harmony between Santa’s costume and the company’s logo subtly reinforced the association between the character and the product. Santa was shown drinking Coke, delivering bottles to families, relaxing by the fireplace, or pausing from work to refresh himself.
Such scenes humanized Santa and placed him comfortably within modern domestic life. The ad was so popular that Coca-Cola had Sundblom paint his version of Santa every year from 1931 until 1964. Ironically, the original Sundblom Santa was painted over. It was the Great Depression, and every penny that could be pinched was. Canvas was expensive, so for 1933, Sundblom simply reused the 1931 painting by modifying it a bit. He put a hat on Santa’s head, changed the angle of one arm, and added a whip for the reindeer.
How Coca-Cola Standardized the Universal Image of Santa
Crucially for cementing Sundbloom’s Santa as standard, Coca-Cola’s Santa was not a one-off image but part of a sustained campaign. From 1931 through the 1960s, Sundblom produced numerous Santa illustrations for Coca-Cola. They appeared in magazines, billboards, store displays, and later television advertising. The repetition and consistency of those images were key. Year after year, audiences saw essentially the same Santa: red-clad, white-bearded, cheerful, and benevolent. That visual continuity helped crowd out older, competing representations. Because Coca-Cola was already a global brand, its Santa quickly spread beyond the United States. As Coca-Cola expanded into Europe, Latin America, and other regions, so too did Sundblom’s Santa. In many places, local Father Christmas or St. Nicholas traditions gradually blended with, or were overshadowed by, the Americanized version.
By the mid-twentieth century, Coca-Cola’s Santa had become a shared international image. He was recognizable across cultures, regardless of local Christmas customs. It is important to note that Coca-Cola did not “create” Santa Claus from nothing. Nor did the company single-handedly invent every element of his modern look. Rather, the company’s true achievement lay in standardization and mass cultural reinforcement. Through skillful illustration, emotional storytelling, and unmatched advertising reach, Coca-Cola fixed one particular Santa Claus version in the public imagination. Today’s Santa – jolly, rotund, warmly human, dressed in red and white – is so familiar that he seems timeless. In reality, he is the product of a cultural evolution brought to its modern visual conclusion by Coca-Cola’s ad campaign.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry – Santa Claus: A Biography (2005)
History Halls – The Saint and the Snakes: Saint Patrick Myths and Realities
National Museum of American History – How Santa Brought Coca-Cola In From the Cold
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