A Coca-Cola advertising campaign is often cited as the reason behind Santa Claus’ Christmas get-up. As the story goes, he always wore green until Coca-Cola came along and dressed him in his famous red. Is this just another piece of festive folklore or was the soda giant really behind the change?
For many of us, it’s impossible to imagine Christmas without at least the idea of Santa Claus coming down the chimney. Whether or not he fills your stocking or not, his presence shapes so much of December, let alone Christmas itself.
And when one pictures the jolly, bearded old man, he is wearing his big, red robes. You may well have heard it was the commercial branding of Coca-Cola who gave him his outfit.
The short answer is: no, Coca-Cola did not turn Santa red. But they were one of a series of advertising campaigns launched in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that sought to cash in on the image of Saint Nicholas, and were crucial in making him such a fixture of this time of the year.
It became a self-sustaining cycle. The more brands used him for festive cheer, the more he came to embody Christmas itself. For Coca-Cola’s part, they made him the fixture of their adverts as they tried to become more popular in winter. Beforehand, coke was seen as a warm-weather drink, to help you cool down in the summer.
Read More: Krampus, Hans Trapp and the best Christmas villains
As you can find all about in today’s Great Big Story video, the story of Santa dates back to a Turkish holy man called Saint Nicholas who lived in the 4th century B.C. He was the Bishop of Myra, and red and white were the hues of traditional bishop robes.
“To this very day St Nicholas arrives in Holland each November, dressed in a bishop’s vestments,” a spokesman for the St Nicholas Society told the BBC.
“He rides through the streets to the enjoyment of thousands of onlookers, to begin his investigation into the behavior of the children.”
