Beverage giant Coca-Cola Inc (NYSE:KO) was founded in the 1880s and today is one of the largest companies in the world, valued at $250 billion. The company is also one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Coca-Cola invented several beverages over the years and acquired others. Coca-Cola didn’t invent the concept of Santa Claus, but played a role in growing the legend of the Christmas character.
What Happened: Coca-Cola went public in 1919 and began paying a dividend in 1920. Today, the company is one of the few public companies that has paid and raised its dividend for 50 straight years.
The beverage company has grown around the world with a portfolio of brands that are well-known and through many clever advertising campaigns.
Coca-Cola has a section on its website dedicated to its history with Santa Claus including answering the question “Did Coca-Cola invent Santa?”
The roots of Santa Claus date back to Germany and the Netherlands with characters known as St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas and Santa Claus. The regions began celebrating the Christmas figure known for leaving presents for children in the 17th Century. Santa later found his way to North America.
“Coca-Cola did not create the legend of Santa Claus. But Coca-Cola advertising did play a big role in shaping the jolly character we know today,” Coke’s website reads.
The company began using Santa Claus in advertisements in the 1910s and 1920s, following other companies like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG, which had used the Christmas figure for an Ivory Soap ad in 1885.
The images of Santa were all very similar until Coca-Cola decided to create its own version of the Christmas character.
In 1931, the beverage giant commissioned advertising artist Haddon H. Sundblom to create a new version of Santa Claus.
“Those paintings established Santa as a warm, happy character with human features, including rosy cheeks, a white beard, twinkling eyes and laughter lines.”
According to Coca-Cola, Sundblom got inspiration from the 1822 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which is commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas” today.
The image of Santa created by Sundblom went on to be used by Coca-Cola in advertisements in The Saturday Evening Post and in magazines like Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic and The New…
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