The History of Santa: Did Coca‑Cola Invent Santa Claus?

Santa appeared in stories and illustrations long before he held a bottle of Coca‑Cola. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, artists pictured him in different ways. He could be tall or elf-like, serious or playful, and his clothing varied by artist.

That changed in 1931, when Coca‑Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create holiday advertisements featuring Santa enjoying an ice-cold Coca‑Cola. Inspired by Clement Clarke Moore's poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” Sundblom painted a full-size, welcoming Santa with rosy cheeks and an easy smile.

The advertisements ran for decades. Their reach helped make Sundblom's Santa a lasting part of holiday culture.

Illustrations of Santa in red existed before Coca‑Cola's campaigns. The company's widely seen holiday advertising helped reinforce that look around the world, but it did not originate the red suit.

At World of Coca‑Cola, the Santa story sits within a larger look at the designs, characters and campaigns that have shaped the brand. Icons celebrates familiar Coca‑Cola symbols, including Santa Claus, the contour bottle, the classic script logo and the Coca‑Cola Polar Bear. Nearby, Coca‑Cola Stories uses authentic artifacts and historically inspired settings to show how the brand evolved across more than a century.