How Coca-Cola has really changed Santa's look

How Coca-Cola has really changed Santa's look

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When Coca-Cola's "Upcoming Holiday" ad plays on your TV screen, it's not uncommon to hear someone say:

"Hey, did you know Coke made Santa red and he was green before?"

As well as "Coke owns rights over Santa Claus".

And these are the things many of us take to be true.

However, they are completely mythical.

So why do people believe this?

As many of you know Santa is based on St. Nicholas, a historical Christian bishop of Greece known for his generosity and kindness.

Nicholas is famous for performing miracles and giving dedication to people poorer than him.

In Germany on December 6 people celebrate “St.

They do this because Saint Nick will initially go around putting coins in poor people's shoes, as people usually leave their boots outside during the day.

In the 16th century after the reform, stories and traditions about Saint Nicholas became uncommon and less well-respected until he began to appear as a figure in English plays and tales.

Back then, he was known as the "Santa Claus", or "Father's Christmas", with the trend eventually spreading across Europe.

In France, he is known as "Père Nöel", and in parts of Austria and Germany he is known as "Christkind", is a baby version with angel wings with blond hair.

How did he become the red Santa icon we know today?

Yes, bishops are known to wear red robes, and quite often when illustrated St. Nicholas will be depicted in red robes.

This is what artist Thomas Nast's started to do when his illustrations of his funny friend started appearing in Harper's Weekly magazine.

Before these illustrations, during the Victorian period, Santa Claus was often depicted wearing all the different colors - white, blue, brown and of course green.

Harper's Weekly has published Nast's drawings of Santa for about 20 years, all of the man we recognize now - a cheerful grinning man with a big stomach,

In addition to that, Nast also gave him a pipe.

Nast's paintings of Santa Claus have become very popular and accepted by everyone as a benchmark for his appearance.

More and more artists are starting to paint Santa Claus as Nast did, wearing red now synonymous with Christmas from 1900 to 1930.

What does this have to do with Coca-Cola?

In 1931, Coca-Cola used Santa Claus for the first time in their ads, with artist Haddon Sundblom making only one major change to Thomas Nast's iconic portrait of him.

They transferred his tube to a glass Coke bottle.

So while Santa isn't always red, it's definitely not Coke that made him red.

And they certainly don't own Santa Claus rights - they've even said this themselves before to try and undo the myth!

The most iconic Christmas thing Coke ever brought us was Coca-Cola's Christmas vans and the "Upcoming Holiday" ad, which first debuted in 1995 and now newspaper

Even if it was November ...

Thanks everyone for reading, hope you enjoy this!