Santa With a Twist

In 1931, Coca-Cola hired Chicago artist Haddon Sundblom to design holiday ads featuring Santa Claus, initiating an advertising tradition. Sundblom continued to create holiday ads for Coke over the next 33 years--and in doing so, helped shape the personality of Santa Claus.

Sundblom’s Santa had a mischievous streak--he wasn’t above swiping a Coke from the refrigerator after making a delivery. Sundblom’s 1942 Santa tracks snow into the living room of a home. A small child catches Sundblom’s 1959 Santa raiding the refrigerator. The 1962 Santa plays with a train set and helicopter after placing them under a tree.

Sundblom, who died in 1976, painted his last Santa for Coke in 1964. But the Atlanta-based soft drink company continues to use Sundblom’s images in advertising. In a current TV spot, a caravan of Coca-Cola trucks passes through a small town as onlookers cheer. At the end of the spot, the image of a Sundblom Santa painted on one of the trucks comes to life, lifting his soft drink bottle in a holiday toast.

Coca-Cola also uses Sundblom Santa images on its bottles and cans, tapping into feelings of nostalgia to give soft-drink sales a boost during the holiday season.