Did Coca-Cola Invent Santa? The Real History
Did Coca-Cola invent Santa? No. Santa Claus was a well-known American figure long before Coca-Cola's first Santa ad in 1931. Even the company itself says Santa appeared in a red coat before its illustrator Haddon Sundblom painted him.1
What Coca-Cola did do is shape how most of us picture Santa today: a warm, round, grandfatherly man in red and white. Sundblom painted that Santa for more than 30 years, in magazines that reached millions of American homes.1
Below you'll find the real timeline, from a Dutch saint in old New York to the cartoonist Thomas Nast, the soda brand that used Santa first, and the story behind the Coca-Cola Christmas trucks.
Did Coca-Cola create Santa Claus? The short answer
| Claim | True or false? |
|---|---|
| Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus | False: Santa existed for more than a century before 1931 |
| Coca-Cola made Santa wear red | False: Santa wore red before Sundblom painted him |
| Coca-Cola was the first soda brand with Santa ads | False: White Rock used Santa first |
| Coca-Cola shaped the modern image of Santa | Largely true: Sundblom painted Santa for more than 30 years |
The myth is so popular because the Coca-Cola Santa is so memorable. But the building blocks (the sleigh, the reindeer, the toys, the chimney, the North Pole and the red suit) were all in place before 1931.23
Santa Claus before Coca-Cola: a New York story
Santa Claus is, in many ways, a New Yorker. In 1809 Washington Irving's satirical History of New York turned the Dutch Sinterklaas into a jolly figure, pictured as a sailor with a pipe and a green coat.2 In 1821 a booklet showed “Old Santeclaus” with a reindeer sleigh, and in 1823 the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” gave us the eight reindeer, the chimney and a “jolly old elf.”24
| Year | What happened | Santa looked like |
|---|---|---|
| 1809 | Washington Irving's History of New York turns Dutch Sinterklaas into a New York legend | A Dutch sailor with a pipe, green coat |
| 1821 | “Old Santeclaus” appears with a reindeer sleigh | A small figure in a sleigh |
| 1823 | “A Visit from St. Nicholas” is printed | A “jolly old elf” with a sack of toys |
| 1863 | Thomas Nast's first Santa in Harper's Weekly | Star-spangled coat and striped pants |
| 1870s | Louis Prang's Christmas cards | Red suit becomes popular |
| 1881 | Nast's “Merry Old Santa Claus” | Round, bearded, pipe, fur trim |
| 1915 to 1925 | White Rock mineral water ads | Santa sells soda, in color from 1923 |
| 1931 | Haddon Sundblom's first Coca-Cola Santa | Warm, life-size, red suit, white fur |
Sources for the timeline: Wikipedia, the American Battlefield Trust and the Coca-Cola Company.231 For the older roots of the gift-bringer, read St. Nicholas vs. Santa Claus.
Thomas Nast: the man who drew Santa
The most important Santa artist before Coca-Cola was Thomas Nast, a German-born cartoonist who came to New York as a child in 1846.3 His first Santa appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, wearing a star-spangled coat and striped pants.3
Over more than two decades Nast drew 33 Christmas pictures for Harper's. His 1881 “Merry Old Santa Claus” shows the round, bearded, pipe-smoking Santa we'd recognize today.3 Nast also helped make the North Pole Santa's home.2 His drawings were black and white, though. The red suit became popular through color Christmas cards by the printer Louis Prang in the 1870s.3
White Rock: the soda brand that used Santa first
Coca-Cola wasn't even the first soft drink brand to hire Santa. White Rock mineral water used Santa in ads from 1915, in black and white, and in color from 1923 to 1925.2
Coca-Cola Santa Claus 1931: Haddon Sundblom
Coca-Cola had placed Christmas ads in The Saturday Evening Post since the 1920s, and in 1930 it ran a picture of a department-store Santa by Fred Mizen.1 Then, in 1931, the company hired the illustrator Haddon Sundblom. Inspired by the 1823 poem, he painted a warm, friendly, life-size Santa.1
The ads ran in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, National Geographic and The New Yorker.1 Sundblom's first model was a retired salesman named Lou Prentiss. Later, Sundblom painted his own face using a mirror. He kept painting Santa until 1964.1
Coca-Cola and Santa in numbers
Coca-Cola Santa suit: why red and white?
It's tempting to think the suit matches the logo on purpose. But Santa was already wearing red before Sundblom; the company says so itself.1 What Sundblom did was make the red-and-white version so consistent, year after year, that it pushed out the other versions.13
The Coca-Cola Christmas trucks
The other big Coca-Cola Christmas icon is the glowing truck convoy from the “Holidays Are Coming” ads. The trucks first appeared on TV in the mid-1990s.5 In the US, the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022, with hundreds of stops across the US and Canada between mid-November and mid-December that year.5 Tour dates change every year, so check your local bottler's announcements in November.
So who gets the credit for Santa?
Many people, over a long time: Dutch settlers, Washington Irving, the author of the 1823 poem, Thomas Nast, card printers like Louis Prang, and yes, Coca-Cola's Haddon Sundblom. Coca-Cola didn't invent Santa, but it gave him the face that many Americans still picture.
Want more Santa facts? Read about Santa's reindeer names, see what Santa is called around the world, or answer the big question: Is Santa real?
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Coca-Cola and Santa: frequently asked questions
Did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus?
No. Santa Claus was part of American culture long before Coca-Cola's first Santa ad in 1931. Washington Irving wrote about him in 1809, the famous poem with the reindeer appeared in 1823, and Thomas Nast drew him for Harper's Weekly from 1863.
Did Coca-Cola make Santa red?
No. Even Coca-Cola says Santa appeared in a red coat before Haddon Sundblom painted him. Red suits were already popular on 1870s Christmas cards by printer Louis Prang. Coca-Cola's ads did help make the red-and-white look the standard.
What did Santa look like before Coca-Cola?
It varied. Irving described a Dutch sailor in a green coat, Thomas Nast drew him in a star-spangled coat and later as a round, bearded man with a pipe, and Santa's look kept changing until the red suit won out.
Who painted the Coca-Cola Santa?
The illustrator Haddon Sundblom painted Santa for Coca-Cola from 1931 to 1964. His first model was a retired salesman, Lou Prentiss; later Sundblom used his own face in a mirror.
What was Santa's suit color originally?
There was no single original color. Washington Irving's Santa wore green, Thomas Nast drew in black and white, and red suits spread through color Christmas cards in the 1870s.
When did the Coca-Cola Christmas truck start?
The trucks first appeared in a TV ad in the mid-1990s. In the US, the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan tour started in the late 1990s and marked its 25th anniversary in 2022.
Sources
- 1The Coca-Cola Company: Haddon Sundblom and the Coca-Cola Santas (coca-colacompany.com)
- 2Wikipedia: Santa Claus (en.wikipedia.org)
- 3American Battlefield Trust: The man behind Merry Old Santa Claus (battlefields.org)
- 4Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas (en.wikipedia.org)
- 5Coca-Cola UNITED: Holiday Caravan 25th anniversary (2022) (cocacolaunited.com)