Did Coca-Cola Invent Santa? The Real History

Did Coca-Cola invent Santa? No. Santa Claus was a well-known figure across North America long before Coca-Cola's first Santa ad in 1931. 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 many 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 read by millions of homes.¹

Below is the real timeline, from a Dutch saint in old New York to the cartoonist Thomas Nast, the soda brand that used Santa first, and a Canadian twist: Toronto had a department-store Santa parade a quarter century before Sundblom picked up his brush.

Did Coca-Cola create Santa Claus? The short answer

The myth is 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 1823 the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” gave us the eight reindeer, the chimney and a “jolly old elf.”²⁴

Sources for the timeline: Wikipedia, the American Battlefield Trust, the Ontario Heritage Trust and the Coca-Cola Company.²³⁵¹ 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 with his mother and sister in 1846.³ His first Santa appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863, during the American Civil War, wearing a star-spangled coat and striped pants.³

From 1863 to 1886 Nast contributed 33 Christmas-themed images to Harper's. His 1881 “Merry Old Santa Claus” shows the round, bearded, pipe-smoking Santa we would recognize today.³ His drawings were black and white, though. The red suit is credited to colour cards by the printer Louis Prang in the 1870s.³

White Rock: the soda brand that used Santa first

Coca-Cola was not 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 colour from 1923 to 1925.²

Santa in Canada before Coca-Cola: Eaton's in Toronto

Canada had its own commercial Santa early on. Eaton's issued its first Christmas catalogue in 1897 and, by 1903, had Santa appear in its toy department.⁵ On Saturday, December 2, 1905, the store held the first Santa Claus Parade: Santa came out of Union Station on Front Street, riding a packing case on a horse-drawn Eaton delivery truck, and the route ended at the Yonge Street store.⁵

That is 26 years before Sundblom's first Coca-Cola Santa. Eaton's kept the parade going until August 1982, when it announced it would cancel it after 77 years because of the cost. A volunteer "Save Our Santa" campaign followed, and the parade carried on with corporate sponsors.⁵⁶ Want the full story? Read about the Santa Claus Parade in Canada.

Coca-Cola Santa Claus 1931: Haddon Sundblom

Coca-Cola had placed Christmas ads in The Saturday Evening Post since the 1920s, and in 1930 artist Fred Mizen painted a department-store Santa drinking a Coke.¹ Then, in 1931, the company turned to the illustrator Haddon Sundblom, whose Santa debuted in ads in The Saturday Evening Post.¹

Sundblom's first model was his friend Lou Prentiss, a retired salesman. After Prentiss died, Sundblom used himself as the model. His final Santa dates from 1964.¹

Coca-Cola Santa suit: why red and white?

It is 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 and the Holiday Caravan

The other big Coca-Cola Christmas icon is the glowing truck convoy from the “Holidays Are Coming” ads, which first appeared on TV in the mid-1990s.⁷ The Holiday Caravan tour celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022, with stops across the US and Canada between mid-November and mid-December that year.⁷ 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, department stores like Eaton's, and yes, Coca-Cola's Haddon Sundblom. Coca-Cola did not invent Santa, but it gave him the face that many of us still picture.

Want more Santa facts? Read about Santa's reindeer names, see what Santa is called around the world (including Père Noël in Quebec), or answer the big question: Is Santa real?

Coca-Cola and Santa: frequently asked questions

Did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus?

No. Santa Claus was part of North 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. Coca-Cola itself says Santa appeared in a red coat before Haddon Sundblom painted him. Red suits were already popular on 1870s Christmas cards by the 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.

Was there a Santa in Canada before Coca-Cola's ads?

Yes. Eaton's, the Toronto department store, held its first Santa Claus Parade on December 2, 1905, and had Santa in its toy department by 1903, about 26 years before Sundblom's first Coca-Cola Santa.

Who painted the Coca-Cola Santa?

The illustrator Haddon Sundblom painted Santa for Coca-Cola from 1931 to 1964. His first model was his friend Lou Prentiss, a retired salesman; after Prentiss died, Sundblom used himself as the model.

What colour was Santa's suit originally?

There was no single original colour. Washington Irving's Santa wore green, Thomas Nast drew in black and white, and red suits spread through colour Christmas cards in the 1870s.

Does the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan come to Canada?

The 2022 Holiday Caravan tour, which marked its 25th anniversary, had stops across the US and Canada between mid-November and mid-December. Dates change every year, so check your local Coca-Cola bottler in November.

Sources

1. 1The Coca-Cola Company: Haddon Sundblom and the Coca-Cola Santas (coca-colacompany.com)
2. 2Wikipedia: Santa Claus (en.wikipedia.org)
3. 3American Battlefield Trust: The man behind Merry Old Santa Claus (battlefields.org)
4. 4Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas (en.wikipedia.org)
5. 5Ontario Heritage Trust: Santa Claus Parade (background paper) (heritagetrust.on.ca)
6. 6Wikipedia: Toronto Santa Claus Parade (en.wikipedia.org)
7. 7Coca-Cola UNITED: Holiday Caravan 25th anniversary (2022) (cocacolaunited.com)