Putting the Coke back in Christmas

Did God make Santa Claus, or is he just another one of the Coca-Cola Company’s holiday characters?

At the beginning of the 1930s, the burgeoning Coca-Cola company was still looking for ways to increase sales of their product during winter, then a slow time of year for the soft drink market. They turned to a talented commercial illustrator named Haddon Sundblom, who created a series of memorable drawings that associated the figure of a larger than life, red-and-white garbed Santa Claus with Coca-Cola. Coke’s annual advertisements — featuring Sundblom-drawn Santas holding bottles of Coca-Cola, drinking Coca-Cola, receiving Coca-Cola as gifts, and especially enjoying Coca-Cola — became a perennial Christmastime feature which helped spur Coca-Cola sales throughout the winter (and produced the bonus effect of appealing quite strongly to children, an important segment of the soft drink market). The success of this advertising campaign has helped fuel the legend that Coca-Cola actually invented the image of the modern Santa Claus, decking him out in a red-and-white suit to promote the company colors — or that at the very least, Coca-Cola chose to promote the red-and-white version of Santa Claus over a variety of competing Santa figures in order to establish it as the accepted image of Santa Claus.

Late-night comedian Jon Stewart, who’s been accused by Bill O’Reilly of being behind what some are calling the War on Christmas, recently took the Coca-Cola Company to task for taking Santa out of Christmas, and replacing him with polar bears—and now they’ve added penguins.

Move over elves. Thanks to Coca-Cola, Santa now has some new helpers to spread the holiday spirit this year. To help celebrate the holidays this year, the popular Coca-Cola Polar Bears and the familiar Sundblom Santa are joined by a festive group of penguins.

Led by the Polar Bears, the entire family of Coca-Cola holiday characters will be featured in the 2005 Give. Live. Love. Coke. holiday campaign on packaging, advertising, and point-of-of purchase displays. In addition, the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan — emblazoned with thousands of lights and Santa’s grinning image — will once again visit communities across the U.S. to signal the arrival of the holiday season.

“Coca-Cola holiday packaging and commercials have become a tradition that families anticipate each year,” said Katie Bayne, senior vice president, Coca-Cola Brands, Coca-Cola North America. “Our special holiday message of Give. Live. Love. Coke. reminds people to come together and share the magic of the season and the spirit of generosity, just as our Polar Bears, penguins and Santa do.”

Whatever became of traditional Christmas commercialism?