Santa in Advertising

Writing my previous post about the gambles associated with spokespersons made me think about Santa Claus and his appearances in advertisements. He’s a staple of Coca-Cola commercials each year around Christmas. Other than that though, that’s really the only product I see St. Nick pushing.

A little research revealed that folks at Coke made Santa a company man a long, long time ago.

You just can’t beat the iconic Coca-Cola Santa and it seems that other advertisers haven’t even tried! However, I came across one website that claims another carbonated beverage, White Rock, featured Santa in their ads well before he was seen in Coca-Cola marketing pieces.

I also learned that Santa’s likeness has been utilized in print advertisements for products that would be considered taboo by today’s standards. Yes, it’s no secret that Santa smokes but I never knew that he preferred cigarettes that were easy on his throat until I came across this collection from the Stanford School of Medicine.

Stanford School of Medicine

Santa probably no longer promotes cigarettes for the same reason smiling cartoon camels are no longer permitted to do so. It should be noted that these images of a smoking Santa debuted around the same time as Coke’s Sundblom Santa. Since that time, Santa has remained a loyal Coca-Cola spokesman...except when he’s on vacation, of course.

I really want to learn how or why The Coca-Cola Company gained such a tight hold on Santa’s image over the years. If you know of of these details, please leave them in the comment section or feel free to contact me on Twitter. Thanks for your help!