How did Coca-Cola turn Santa Claus from an ugly character into a cheerful symbol?

With his red suit, thick white beard and bag full of gifts, the “Santa Claus” or “Santa Claus” character was associated with creating joy and fulfilling wishes before the start of the new Gregorian calendar year. But what we do not know is that Santa Claus was not decades ago in this loving style, nor in his affectionate character.

In his interview with the French magazine "Le Nouvel Observator", the historian François Renard, author of "The History of the Great World", addressed aspects of joy related to birthdays and New Year's celebrations, and says, "Historically, the current image of Santa Claus did not exist, but descended from Saint Nicholas the Personal. Famous since the Middle Ages. "

"For centuries, it was this person who distributed gifts to children, but he did it on the night of December 6 according to Christian heritage, but when it was exported to the United States in the nineteenth century by the Germans and the Dutch, it was gradually melted with Christmas, retaining his original name in American English: Santa Claus, the same as St. Niklaus Osan Nikola.

Santa Claus was skinny
Before 1830, paintings that dealt with the image of "Santa Claus" were depicted as a skinny, nervous, and short-lived person, but German cartoonist Thomas Nast was inspired by the image of "Santa Claus" from a poem by the poet Clement Clarke More describing St. Nikola in 1822, when he described Santa as " He has a thick white beard, and a full round belly dances like a jelly bowl when he laughs. "

Perhaps here the basic picture of Nast's folklore has been completed, adding to it several qualities inspired by German heritage, such as wearing a pink suit decorated with white fur and a broad black belt. Santa, according to legends, was putting gifts for children inside the socks hanging over the fireplace, which is the continuing tradition to this day linked to this legendary figure.

Coca-Cola and Santa Claus
But how did Coca-Cola make a great change in the personality of Santa Claus during the 1930s, presenting it as a propaganda face for its product and linking it with good reason for cold soft drinks in the winter, according to historian Renard.

From 1931 until 1964, Coca-Cola used the Santa after wearing a red coat - the same color as the Coca-Cola brand - in several advertising campaigns, according to the company's official website.

Coca-Cola has launched a human novel about Santa, who is waiting for children at night, waiting for gifts and achieving wishes, sleepy and wake up, and they found Santa's gifts around them with Coca-Cola bottles without a doubt.

The audience was so associated with Santa that even when he appeared in one of the advertisements without the wedding ring, the women sent letters of offers of marriage to the legendary character. The children also loved Santa, who also appeared in the animated films, prompting Coca-Cola to use the character of a boy and girl next to him in the ads and a black dog with thick fur, so that each child will have a good memory waiting to happen again at the same time every year.