THE hat, the red robe with white fur trim, the long white beard, and the ho ho ho! laugh— we all know him.
If Christmas has a brand ambassador, it would be no one else but Santa Claus. He is often depicted as the big jolly man on a reindeer sleigh. When you see Santa, you think of Christmas, of gifts under the tree wrapped by glimmering lights, and of feast served on a long table.
But did you know that Santa Claus wasn’t always portrayed like this? In fact, before 1930, Santa’s wardrobe consisted of more colors— blue, green, tan, and brown. So why, in the 21st century, do we know him only from his red getup?
Well, would you believe me when I say that your favorite soda drink might have something to do with that?
From Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus
Santa Claus wasn’t even ‘Santa Claus’ before. Instead, he was Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Christian bishop who became known as the ‘Patron Saint of Children’. He is also ‘Father Christmas’, the British personification of Christmas who is a gift-bringer.
The name ‘Santa Claus’ was a product of 19th century America, during which Dutch immigrants settled in New Amsterdam (present-day New York). They brought with them the legend of ‘Sinterklaas’ which was what they call Saint Nicholas.
Eventually ‘Sinterklaas’ found its way to the English lexicon, with foreign tongues owning it as it evolved to Santa Claus.
Coca-cola and the magic of advertising
Before Coca-cola decided to take a hand at the famous figure, ‘Saint Nick’ was illustrated very differently from his 21st century counterpart. In some illustrations, he is a tall, gaunt man wearing clothes in the color of blue. There were depictions of him wearing red but this was of ecclesiastical robe.
Coca-cola first used Santa Claus for their advertisement in 1920. Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast pictured him in a red suit with white fur trimming. However, Nast’s Santa had a rather grim look on his face. It was this Santa version that Coca-cola followed for their advertisement.
Yet, it wasn’t until the 1930s that the modern version of Santa Claus really hit it off.
In 1930, under Fred Mizen’s artistry, Coca-cola depicted Santa in their ads as a plump happy man drinking a bottle of coke.
In 1931, the company commissioned Michigan-born artist Haddon Sundblom to create a version of Santa that would represent Coca-cola’s vision of him— a wholesome bloke that can be their poster child during holiday celebrations.
Like Nast and Mizen, Sundblom retained Santa’s red coat. Others say that it was to suit Coca-cola’s ‘red’ brand, while Coca-cola insisted that he appeared in a red coat before.
Regardless of the truth, this was the Santa version that Coca-cola popularized, placing it in popular magazine ads such as The New Yorker, National Geographic, and others. The company launched an all-out campaign that portrays Santa as a jolly grandpa who reads letters of children as he drinks coke and raids the refrigerators of the homes he visits for a coke.
The constant exposure of people to Coca-cola’s version of Santa has led to its persistence in the 21st century. Gone are the days of Saint Nicholas in a blue robe. What we have now is a rotund Santa Claus in his Coca-cola red hat and outfit.
Christmas as a capitalist’s dream
Many scholars have always used Santa Claus as an example of how Christmas is commercialized by corporations. They said that the association created between Santa Claus, Christmas, and Coca-cola was a great example of Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory on Mythologies.
Semiotic is a branch of communication research that studies how signs and symbols acquire meaning, and how they affect the way we see the world or what we perceive as ‘true’.
In a similar vein, Barthes’ study deals with how signifiers (tangible form of something, ex: flower, fire, tree) gain their meaning or what they signified (abstract concept linked to the tangible form, ex: love, passion, mother nature).
Using Barthes’ logic in this case, we can identify Santa Claus as our signifier, the physical form of a sign in a red-robed jolly old man. Now, his constant reappearance during Christmas links him with the season’s festivities and everything else it represents: Santa Claus is joy, Santa Claus means holidays, Santa Claus is Christmas.
And then, since we always see Santa Claus drinking Coca-cola, wearing the bright red color of the brand, we associate the drink to him— even bigger with Christmas and celebrations.
You can almost always count that a bottle of Coca-cola would be present in that long-tabled feast.
This is a very clever maneuver, and we see it all the time— not just in Coca-cola advertisements but in others as well.
Why do car commercials always depict their owners wearing a well-ironed suit, driving in traffic-free highways or mountainsides? Maybe because they want to associate having a car with elegance, opulence, and even freedom.
Why do Jollibee and McDonald’s commercials always employ stories about warmth, starring families and common folks? Because they want to market their brand as something affordable, convenient, and family-friendly.
Why do Milo commercials employ athletes as their models? Because if they want you to think that Milo improves your athletic performance.
By linking their models through their product, and wrapping it in an often sentimental narrative, they try to appeal to their audience’s desires. They emulate these desires in the commercials that can only be achieved through buying what they sell.
Likewise, Coca-cola sold us not only Santa Claus, but an idea on how we should spend our Christmas money.
Talk about good marketing.
