Santa, Coke and Charlie Brown

It’s nearly impossible to imagine the festive season without the sight of Santa Claus’s cheerful, cherry-red suit, or a holiday advertisement featuring the iconic, refreshing taste of Coca-Cola. While many believe the brand’s association with Christmas began with the charming polar bears, the truth is that the history between the soft drink giant and the jolly gift-giver runs much deeper—and it’s a history driven by a cold, hard business problem.

As early as the 1910s, Coca-Cola faced a major conundrum: how to convince customers that soda was a year-round pleasure, not just a summer thirst quencher.

“During the chilly winter months, the company faced a major problem: how do you convince customers that soda is not just a summer beverage, but should be enjoyed year-round?” states a curator from the National Museum of American History, where a 1929 Coca-Cola Santa ad is set to feature in the new American Enterprise exhibition.

The company’s solution was brilliant: leverage the most popular winter figure available, Santa Claus, to forge an unbreakable link between the beverage and the holiday spirit.

While Santa Claus had already evolved significantly in American culture—from the “little old driver” described in Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem to the human-sized character popularized by cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1860s—his appearance still varied widely. Artists occasionally tweaked the color of his robes and the amount of “girth” around his middle.

The defining transformation came in the early 1930s when Coca-Cola commissioned artist Haddon H. Sundblom of the D’Arcy Agency to design a new Santa.

Sundblom redrew Santa Claus as the quintessential Christmas figure we know today: a plump, cheerful man with snow-white hair, based initially on his friend, retired salesman Lou Prentiss. Crucially, Sundblom dressed him in red and white—colors already associated with Santa, but which perfectly complemented Coca-Cola’s signature brand identity. He even created a Mrs. Claus, modeled after his own wife.The result was an overwhelming success.

Today, it is Sundblom’s Santa who graces everything from Coke cans to Christmas sweaters and home décor, solidifying a worldwide image of Santa Claus—all thanks to Coca-Cola’s campaign to boost winter sales.

Coca-Cola’s influence on the American Christmas tradition didn’t end with Santa’s redesign. In 1965, the company’s sponsorship helped birth one of the most beloved holiday specials of all time: A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The show’s creators, Charles Schulz and Lee Mendelson, had struggled to find a network buyer for a story about the Peanuts gang. However, that summer, Coca-Cola reached out, challenging them to produce the special in the tight six months remaining before December 25th.

Schulz insisted on two non-negotiable terms: the inclusion of a minute-long reading of the Nativity chapter from the Gospel of Luke and the casting of real children for all character voices. Coca-Cola agreed.

In an astounding three months, A Charlie Brown Christmas was completed. When it aired on CBS for the first time on December 9, 1965, nearly half of America’s television audience tuned in, instantly establishing another powerful, Coca-Cola-sponsored Christmas tradition.

The holiday season is now intrinsically linked with the red-and-white branding of both Santa and the famous soft drink. What began as a strategic business move to solve a winter sales slump ultimately gave the world its most recognizable Christmas icon and helped launch a timeless holiday classic.  Happy Collecting!