Did Coca Cola “invent” Santa Claus?

Legend has it that the modern Santa Claus was created by Coca Cola back in the 1930s as part of a national advertising campaign. As part of this theory, it was also widely believed that that Santa’s red and white colors were chosen for one reason—to promote the Coke brand.

It sounds good—our premier Christmas image created by an American marketing machine—but it’s not completely true.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Santa image had been evolving for years. By the late 19^th century, Santa was still portrayed in many lights– as large and slight build, sometimes chubby, sometimes not; sometimes jolly, sometimes serious. His clothes might be red, purple or green (when Louis Prang created a Santa Claus Christmas card in 1885, he was wearing a red suit)

Still, there was a look emerging. By the time Norman Rockwell was painting Santas in the 1920s (picture below on left), Santa’s makeover was pretty complete and universally recognized. The bushy eyebrows, chubby physique, white beard, sacks of toys—all were in place by the time Coca Cola got its hands on Santa.

You could also see this Santa image depicted for years in Christmas cards (see above middle and right).

Chalk it up as an urban legend, as this site points out:

The history–and many faces–of the Santa Clause Christmas Card

No single figure is a more popular image on Christmas cards today than Santa Clause, the jolly, benevolent figure associated with abundance, joy and the Christmas spirit. Yet if not for some major changes along the way, Santa could have wound up being a pretty scary figure.

The forerunners of Santa go back hundreds of years. By the time he showed up on the first Christmas cards in the mid 1800s, his image was already partly shaped. Ancient images include the Christian Bishop of Myra (4^th century), known as Saint Nicholas. Bishop of Myra was famous for his kindness to children and generosity to the poor in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey.

Then there was the mythic Norse God Odin, in the 12^th century (pictured below, far left), the God of War. Odin, with his white beard, has an slight but eery resemblance to today’s Santa and apparently he was known for riding on his horse, bringing either gifts or punishments, as appropriate. He was both loved and feared since he was said to be able to read hiding thoughts.

There were various Santas, different traditions by country. As this site points out, St. Nicholas is said to arrive in Holland