A cheerful older man with a white beard and red coat looks out from an advertisement. Beside him is a bottle of Coca-Cola. The image has become so familiar that it has generated a persistent story: Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus and dressed him in red to match the company’s colours.
Neither claim is accurate in that simple form. Santa had appeared in red clothing before Coca-Cola’s celebrated campaign. The company adopted an existing figure, commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom in 1931 and repeated its interpretation for decades. It became an important participant in a much longer visual history, not the sole creator of Santa (Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-a; Coca-Cola Company, n.d.-a).
The company’s relationship with other celebrations also needs careful wording. Coca-Cola did not invent Ramadan, Lunar New Year or Diwali. It has produced campaigns using themes associated with those occasions. Establishing that a campaign existed is easier than proving how much it changed people’s actual religious or family practices.
St Nicholas and the many traditions of gift-giving
The history begins long before a soft-drink advertisement. St Nicholas is one important figure whose veneration developed over centuries. Across Europe, communities formed different customs around Nicholas, Christmas and gifts. Those practices were not identical everywhere, nor did they develop in a single straight line toward one universal character (Library of Congress, 2024b).
The Dutch name Sinterklaas formed part of the background to the North American name Santa Claus, alongside other cultural influences. Elsewhere, St Nicholas, the Christkind and locally distinctive gift-bringers remained important. A global account should make room for those differences rather than treating the American Santa as the original form of every holiday tradition.
The relationship between religious observance, gifts and family celebrations had changed many times before Coca-Cola’s campaigns. Public festivities, domestic customs, religious practice and commerce coexisted. Companies could join those traditions and draw on their meanings; they did not create all of them.
An 1823 poem and a disputed author
An important American text is “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, first published anonymously in 1823. Its description of a night-time visitor contributed to a particular story of Santa’s journey and his encounter with a household. The Library of Congress notes that authorship has been disputed between Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingston (Library of Congress, 2025).
The uncertainty matters. Simplified accounts sometimes give Moore unquestioned credit for inventing the entire modern Santa. The poem was influential, but it was one contribution within a longer web of stories. It cannot by itself explain every later costume or every country’s celebration.
For marketing history, it demonstrates how brand characters can draw on cultural material that already carries meaning. A company can benefit from recognition and emotion without originating them. Advertising can reframe and circulate a story without erasing earlier contributors.
Thomas Nast and nineteenth-century Santa images
During the nineteenth century, illustrator Thomas Nast published Santa Claus images in Harper’s Weekly. His work helped develop and circulate elements of the American character. The Library of Congress places Nast’s relevant illustrations in the period from 1863 to 1890 (Library of Congress, 2024b).
Nast did not single-handedly invent every feature of modern Santa. Earlier narratives, other illustrators, publishers and commercial media contributed as well. Colour claims need particular care: a black-and-white print does not automatically establish the colour of a costume, and a later colourisation should not be mistaken for the original publication.
The red coat’s history is therefore not a simple line from one artist to Coca-Cola. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century pictures showed variations. The Smithsonian notes that by the 1910s and 1920s a recognisably cheerful, bearded Santa had largely emerged, although artists continued to vary clothing and body shape (Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-a).
The red suit before 1931
The answer to the central question is clear: Coca-Cola did not invent Santa’s red suit. The National Museum of American History explains that red and white were already associated with the figure before Sundblom’s Coca-Cola work. Those colours also happened to fit the company’s visual identity (Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-b).
Coca-Cola’s own visitor attraction now makes the same distinction: the company’s advertising reinforced an existing appearance rather than originating the red suit (World of Coca-Cola, n.d.). Agreement between a museum and the company’s account supports the basic correction. The company account remains a self-interested source when it describes the scale of its own influence.
Red was not the only colour used for historical gift-bringers. An older figure in another colour does not disprove the existence of red examples at the same time. Equally, a red pre-1931 illustration does not prove that one appearance had become universal. The useful questions are which version circulated, where, when and through which medium.
Santa appeared in advertising before Coca-Cola’s famous campaign
Santa was used in advertising before Sundblom’s work as well. The Smithsonian preserves an 1890 Ivory soap advertisement catalogued as “Thoughtful Santa Claus”. It documents another company’s use of the character decades before Coca-Cola’s 1931 commission (Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-c).
The catalogue establishes the date and advertising context. Without examining the object, it should not be used as proof of every colour detail or of the advertisement’s actual audience reach. It is sufficient, however, to reject the claim that Coca-Cola was the first business to use Santa in advertising.
The character was commercially attractive because he already carried associations with gifts and anticipation. An advertiser could place a product within an existing story rather than invent the entire story. This is a form of cultural branding: a company participates in meanings larger than its own product.
Rudolph: Another company’s contribution to the festive canon
A comparison from 1939 shows how other businesses contributed to popular Christmas imagery. Copywriter Robert L. May wrote the story of Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, for the Montgomery Ward department store. The company distributed it as a promotional booklet; the Library of Congress reports that more than two million copies were given away in its first year. The Smithsonian preserves an example of that original booklet (Library of Congress, 2024a; Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-d).
The later history extended beyond the first promotion. The Library of Congress describes an advertising cartoon in 1948 and Johnny Marks’s song in 1949. Rudolph therefore followed a different route from Santa: a specific new character was developed for a company promotion and subsequently circulated through other media. Its later cultural life cannot be reduced to one advertisement or one manufacturer (Library of Congress, 2014).
The comparison sharpens the authorship question. Coca-Cola adopted and helped popularise an older character; Montgomery Ward distributed a newly created story. Both illustrate exchanges between business and festive culture, but their origins are not identical. The circulation of a story does not by itself establish how every family celebrates Christmas.
Coca-Cola before Sundblom: Fred Mizen in 1930
Coca-Cola advertised around Christmas before 1931. The company describes Christmas advertising in magazines during the 1920s. In 1930 Fred Mizen painted a department-store scene showing a man dressed as Santa drinking Coca-Cola. Both the company’s history and the Atlanta History Center describe the advertisement’s appearance during that Christmas season (Coca-Cola Company, n.d.-a; Bowron, 2019).
The distinction between Mizen’s scene and the later campaign is revealing. A department-store Santa can be recognised as a performer within a retail setting. According to the company’s account, the later commission sought a convincing depiction of Santa himself. The shift was not simply a change of colour; it changed the character’s role in the narrative.
There was also a seasonal business problem. Coca-Cola wanted an association with winter as well as warm-weather refreshment. The Smithsonian describes Santa’s use as part of an effort to connect the drink with the holiday season (Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-b).
Haddon Sundblom’s 1931 Santa
In 1931 Coca-Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom for a Christmas campaign. His paintings appeared in prominent magazines and presented Santa as a warm older man with a white beard, red clothing and a bottle of Coca-Cola. Over subsequent years, new pictures showed him delivering gifts, reading letters or taking a break (Coca-Cola Company, n.d.-a; Bowron, 2019).
The illustrations did more than display a bottle. They placed it within scenes associated with care, family and celebration. Santa took a pause, and the drink became part of that pause. The brand connected a familiar figure to a specific occasion for consuming its product.
Coca-Cola says Sundblom first used retired salesman Lou Prentiss as a model and later drew on his own reflection. This is useful evidence of the company’s account of the artwork. It does not prove that all viewers associated Santa exclusively with Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Company, n.d.-b).
From individual pictures to a durable visual identity
The campaign’s influence lay partly in duration and repetition. One image can attract attention; a recurring visual language can shape expectations. Colour, facial expression and domestic scenes returned in new combinations over decades.
The Atlanta History Center describes Sundblom’s Coca-Cola Santas from 1931 to 1964. New illustrations should be distinguished from later reuse: an older picture can reappear on packaging, in exhibitions or in digital advertising long after it was first painted (Bowron, 2019).
The advertisements alone cannot quantify Coca-Cola’s exact share of Santa’s worldwide recognition. Films, department stores, books, cards and other advertisers also circulated related images. The evidence supports a significant contribution to popularisation. It does not support exclusive authorship or an exact global causal effect.
Did Coca-Cola change Christmas?
The answer depends on what “Christmas” means. Christian observance, local customs, family celebrations and gift traditions predate the brand. Coca-Cola could not have created them. Its advertising did contribute to the visual and commercial environment in which many people experience the season.
Repeated advertising can itself become a familiar seasonal signal. An image, tune or commercial may remind some viewers that Christmas is approaching. That experience varies by person and country; it does not mean people celebrate the holiday because Coca-Cola told them to do so.
Commercial criticism of Christmas also predates the 1930s. Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum points to nineteenth-century criticism of what was perceived as a commercially driven Christmas. Coca-Cola entered an existing relationship between commerce and celebration rather than creating it (Pitt Rivers Museum, n.d.).
Christmas trucks and digital repetition
A later example is Coca-Cola’s illuminated Christmas truck. The company dates its “Holidays Are Coming” commercial to 1995 and has revisited the motif in subsequent campaigns. Trucks show how an advertising image can travel beyond a film into tours, events and digital media (Coca-Cola Company, 2024).
In 2024 Coca-Cola described an AI-assisted reimagining of the commercial. The announcement documents what the company produced and how it framed its own tradition. It does not independently establish how many people changed their understanding of Christmas because of the campaign (Coca-Cola Company, 2024).
Repetition and variation work together in brand management. A motif needs enough continuity to be recognised and can still be adapted to new media. Audiences may receive it with affection, indifference or criticism; recognition does not imply a uniform response.
China: Lunar New Year and the clay-doll characters
Coca-Cola’s association with celebrations extends beyond Christmas. In Chinese New Year advertising the brand used characters inspired by traditional clay-doll art. Industry accounts trace the Coca-Cola characters A Fu and A Jiao to McCann’s work in 2001; later campaigns brought them back (Campaign Asia, n.d.; Marketing-Interactive, 2016).
A campaign described in 2016 places the figures around a family meal, connecting reunion and celebration with the drink. Chinese New Year and its family and good-fortune traditions are far older than the campaign. Coca-Cola created a branded interpretation; this does not establish that it invented the festival or its traditional symbols (Marketing-Interactive, 2016).
The comparison shows local adaptation. A global brand did not simply use American Santa imagery for every festive occasion; it drew on a different visual tradition. The common strategy is association with a recurring celebration and familiar themes. That does not make the meanings of Christmas and Lunar New Year interchangeable.
Ramadan: A campaign about prejudice and community
During Ramadan in 2015, Coca-Cola ran a Middle Eastern campaign addressing prejudice. According to a later WARC case study, six influencers shared an iftar meal in darkness, and the action included cans with altered or removed branding. The campaign linked a meal after fasting to a message about making assumptions about other people (Rais and Kearney, 2016).
This documents a Ramadan campaign. It does not establish that Coca-Cola created iftar or transformed the religious practice. Ramadan and breaking the fast have religious and social meanings that cannot be reduced to an advertising theme. The brand placed its communication within an existing cultural setting.
The WARC account is an industry case study with an interest in demonstrating success. Claims about media value or impact need to be read with their methods and, where possible, checked independently. A widely circulated film is not on its own evidence that social prejudice declined permanently.
India: Diwali and the promise of being together
In 2022 Coca-Cola India announced a campaign called “Milke Hi Manegi Diwali”. Its press release connects the festival with meeting and celebrating together and describes associated advertising and product activity (Coca-Cola India, 2022).
Diwali is a long-established festival with varied religious and regional meanings. A company release establishes the campaign and its intended message. It does not independently prove that Coca-Cola fundamentally changed the festival in India or that all participants celebrate in the same way.
The comparison with Christmas illustrates a recurring approach to international branding. A company associates itself with a social occasion that already matters locally. The actual symbols and stories vary. Whether a particular audience considers a campaign appropriate or exploitative cannot be established from its existence alone; that requires local voices and audience research.
Why an existing character mattered to the brand
A brand faces a challenge when consumers see no reason to use its product on a particular occasion. Coca-Cola wanted a drink associated with refreshment to be relevant in winter as well. Santa did not solve that problem through a technical property of the beverage. He supplied a familiar story in which the bottle could appear plausible (Smithsonian Institution, n.d.-b).
The connection worked at several levels. Santa was a character who brought gifts to children. A scene in which he paused also explained why he might enjoy a drink himself. The product appeared within an action rather than merely beside a symbol. That narrative relationship may help an advertisement become memorable, but the image alone cannot establish that every viewer bought Coca-Cola because of it.
Repetition provided another advantage. New pictures could build on previous expectations. A different room or moment in Santa’s journey offered variation, while his face, clothing and bottle aided recognition. The creative task involved continuity as well as change. Over time, individual commissions became an archive of images that later campaigns could reuse.
A study by Li and No compares later “Holidays Are Coming” films with earlier reference versions. In the selected material, logos and brand colours remained particularly stable, while Santa and the trucks varied more yet retained identifying features. The research examines visual design; it does not measure a causal effect on all Christmas customs (Li and No, 2026).
Christmas history is also media history
A festive figure does not circulate independently of media. The 1823 poem reached readers through print. Nast worked in an illustrated periodical. Department stores used Christmas characters in physical settings, while Coca-Cola placed Sundblom’s art in magazines and other advertising. Each channel offered different possibilities for distribution and repetition (Library of Congress, 2025; Coca-Cola Company, n.d.-a).
Those media changes do not produce an automatic ranking of cultural influence. An advertisement in a magazine could be received differently by different audiences. A department-store visit offered a different experience from a postcard, and a film could add movement and sound. Comparing their effects would require circulation, geography and evidence of reception over time.
The range of media helps explain why one company is not a sufficient historical explanation. Santa was being reworked simultaneously in stories, decorations, shops and households. A documented advertisement shows how Coca-Cola participated; it does not measure the company’s share of every later image.
Global brand, local tradition: Influence travels both ways
The international cases show more than a brand using a festival. They also show local traditions shaping the brand. For the Chinese New Year characters, established clay-doll art provided a visual starting point. In India, the Diwali campaign related a brand message to a different celebration. A global company must adapt its story to local meanings if people are to understand it (Campaign Asia, n.d.; Coca-Cola India, 2022).
Adaptation is not a complete account of a culture. A family in a commercial or a selected character does not necessarily represent every region, religion or generation. A brand film is a selection: it shows what its creators chose to communicate, not how all people celebrate.
Cultural scholar George McKay considers Coca-Cola’s Santa alongside global consumption, Americanisation and cultural resistance. The framing suggests that international advertising does not have to produce passive acceptance everywhere. Local adaptation, criticism and the survival of older practices are also possible. The accessible abstract identifies that research perspective; evaluating individual countries requires additional local studies (McKay, 2008).
How could actual influence be investigated?
A study of a campaign’s influence must first define the outcome. Is the question whether people recognise an advertisement, whether they place a bottle on a festive table, or whether religious and family practices change over generations? Those questions need different evidence.
Dated advertisements, sales records, circulation figures, household surveys and oral histories could each contribute. International research would also need local media and languages. Even a before-and-after comparison would not automatically prove that a campaign caused a change: films, retailing, migration, income and competing brands can all affect a celebration at the same time.
For the New Year, Ramadan and Diwali examples presented here, the sources establish specific campaigns and intended messages. They do not demonstrate a measurable, lasting national transformation of festive practice. That limitation is itself a research finding: it prevents a visible brand campaign from being mistaken for the invention or complete remaking of an existing cultural celebration.
Recognition is not the same as approval
For marketers, awareness and effect are different measures. Someone can recognise a character without liking or purchasing the product. A memory can also be critical. An annual commercial can be studied for reach and recognition; a claim about incremental sales needs a comparison that accounts for other influences as far as possible.
The same distinction applies across celebrations. A New Year advertisement can draw on traditional forms while prompting discussion about who may use those forms commercially. Some viewers may find a Ramadan campaign’s message inclusive; others may question brand advertising within a religious setting. Without suitable audience research, these are questions to investigate, not demonstrated reactions of an entire population.
This distinction is particularly useful in a museum. An original advertisement can be presented as evidence of design and brand intention, alongside contemporary reporting and different audience perspectives. The company becomes an important participant in the story without its self-description becoming the whole cultural history.
The role of local distributors and media also deserves separate investigation. A campaign adapted for a particular country may pass through local agencies, bottlers, broadcasters and retailers. The corporate release is evidence that a campaign was announced; it does not necessarily reveal every local decision or every setting in which it appeared. Researchers seeking to evaluate national impact would need the relevant versions and distribution records.
Advertising, cultural influence and the limits of evidence
An advertisement documents what a company chose to show. Distribution figures can estimate potential exposure. Surveys, interviews and historical comparison may help investigate perception and behaviour. No single source answers every question about cultural influence.
The Christmas story often turns visibility into an excessive causal claim: many people know a red Santa, Coca-Cola used him, so Coca-Cola must have invented him. Earlier images disprove that conclusion. The reverse claim – that the company therefore had no influence – is not supported either.
The defensible conclusion is more precise. Coca-Cola used older visual traditions, circulated its own interpretation over a long period and connected that interpretation to its brand. Specific campaigns for China, the Middle East and India are documented. The sources examined here do not make it possible to quantify reliably how much those campaigns changed each celebration as a whole.
References
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