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The
Boston Phoenix December 9 - 16, 1999
Coca-Claus
Did a soda-pop company invent Santa?
by Seeta Pena Gangadharan
Santa Claus is the result of a Coke deal.
No joke. Fat, jolly Santa -- the guy with the red suit and cap, the thick
black belt and sooty boots, the rosy cheeks, the luminous eyes, the brighter-than-white
teeth -- is the spawn of an advertising campaign by Coca-Cola back in
the 1930s.
Surprised? Don't be. As far as Coca-Cola is concerned, this is public
knowledge. The company is open about its role in popularizing Santa; it
has even sponsored gallery exhibitions on "Advertising as Art" that explain
how it all happened, one of which was held at the Carrousel du Louvre,
in Paris, in 1996. Here's the story:
Back in the late 19th century, when Coca-Cola was new, the whole purpose
of the beverage was medicinal. If you were feeling "low" or if you suffered
from headaches, a Coke was the perfect remedy. The featured ingredient
-- cocaine, or coca-bean extract -- guaranteed a renewed agility and acuity.
Indeed, many people found out about Coke from their pharmacists; the company
paid pharmacists a commission if drugstores allowed them to install a
carbonation tap on the premises.
By the 1930s, Coca-Cola needed to re-evaluate its business plan. The more
controversial aspects of the beverage had long been dealt with (as early
as 1903, coca-bean extract was removed and caffeine took its place), but
it was the Depression; beverage sales were slow -- especially in the wintry
months -- and Coca-Cola needed a new hook and line to attract the American
market.
So, in 1931, Coca-Cola changed its target audience: from the adult looking
for a pharmaceutical pick-me-up to the whole family. Coca-Cola was now
a great taste to be enjoyed by everyone! To bring the point home, the
company launched an extensive advertising campaign that pioneered the
use of well-known artists as ad designers. Coca-Cola blitzed pharmacies
and stores with promotional material suitable for the whole family.
The most successful illustrations were by a Swedish artist named Haddon
Sundblom, whose work depicted a portly white man in a red suit bringing
joy to family and friends with a bottle of Coke. The figure in the illustrations
was the first modern Santa.
Naturally Coke can't take full credit for bringing Santa into the homes
and hearts of Americans everywhere; the full history of Santa Claus is
much longer than the history of the Coca-Cola company. Various folk traditions
incorporate mysterious holiday gift givers: St. Nicholas, loosely based
on a fourth-century bishop of Asia Minor; a Scandinavian dwarf or a goat;
Kolyada, the white-robed girl of pre-revolutionary Russia who arrived
atop a sleigh with accompanying carolers; and the many religious gift
bearers associated with the Magi.
In the United States, the Dutch were primarily responsible for spreading
the idea of Sante Klaas, whose character was based on one of their revered
bishops. Sante Klaas gave form to the current myth of Santa and fleshed
out his reputation as a gift giver: eight flying reindeer, living near
the North Pole, filling socks with presents, arriving through the chimney.
Two people are usually given credit for creating the American version
of Santa: Clement C. Moore and Thomas Nast. In 1823, Moore wrote "A
Visit from St. Nicholas," the poem we generally think of as " 'Twas
the Night Before Christmas." His description of Santa is suggestive
of a fat man, in the gnomish fashion of the earlier European versions.
The poem reads:
His eyes how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
He had a broad face, a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly elf.
Nearly 40 years later, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew a version
of St. Nicholas for Harper's Illustrated Weekly. Nast's Santa, now a
famous
image, wears a woolly suit and resembles a stout elf with whiskers and
a beard. But still, he doesn't look quite like Santa. Most of Nast's
illustrations
were black and white, but even in his color renditions, Santa prefigures
the modern, commercial image only vaguely. Most notably, his trademark
bright red color is missing.
As a jolly man in a red suit, Santa Claus is pure Coke. The company found
that Haddon Sundblom's image of Santa Claus -- modeled, incidentally,
on a retired salesman named Lou Prentice -- hit the right buttons in
terms
of stirring the hearts and quenching the thirsts of consumers everywhere.
The company contracted with Sundblom to continue making Coke ads with
this model for the next 35 years.
Using Sundblom's version of Santa, Coca-Cola orchestrated a full frontal
attack on the market. Santa-Coke propaganda was everywhere. Magazine
advertisements
were particularly popular, as were point-of-purchase promotional items.
Collectibles, too, were another way that Coca-Cola expanded its presence
-- a strategy that is standard today for any advertiser, from Camel to
Nike.
Coca-Cola also patented a formula for the bright red color used for Coke
packaging and for Santa's suit. Any artist working for Coca-Cola was
required
to use this color red; every Santa in every Coke ad was the exact same
red color as the Coke label. As with its famous bottle, Coke had given
birth to a nearly universal American icon.
A marketing campaign, of course, can be too successful for its own good.
We no longer associate the Coca-Cola company with Santa, even a Santa
dressed in the exact color of a Coke can. In becoming ubiquitous, the
two icons have become independent again. Now the link is a matter of
advertising
history, something to be studied by marketing students and maybe the
slew of tourists and French citizens who saw Coke's exhibit at the Louvre.
Occasionally, Coca-Cola revives Sundblom's Santa in a nostalgic appeal
to its loyal consumers, but the story is rarely told.
Links
Santa1images
As Mark Pendergrast, author of For God, Country and Coca-Cola, concluded:
Prior to the Sundblom illustrations, the Christmas saint had been variously
illustrated wearing blue, yellow, green, or red. After the soft-drink
ads, Santa would forever more be a huge, fat, relentlessly happy man
with
broad belt and black hip boots -- and he would wear Coca-Cola red. While
Coca-Cola has had a subtle, pervasive influence on our culture, it has
directly shaped the way we think of Santa.
Seeta Pena Gangadharan is a freelance writer living in London.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blchristmas.htm
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