Santa’s red suit was not a Coca-Cola invention
Before Coca-Cola’s Santa ads became familiar, artists had already given the character many of his recognizable features. Nineteenth-century illustrations, especially those by cartoonist Thomas Nast, helped establish a bearded, fur-trimmed Santa. But his size, clothing, and colors varied: he could appear in robes of different hues, and he was not always the plump, rosy-cheeked figure people picture today.
Repetition made one version feel definitive
In 1931, Coca-Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create Santa for its holiday advertising. Sundblom drew a warm, human-scale grandfather figure in a red suit with white trim. The cheerful character fit the ads’ aim: Santa was shown enjoying a Coke during the busy Christmas season.
The campaign returned to this version year after year, in widely seen magazine and store advertising. That repetition mattered. A distinctive design encountered across many holiday seasons became easier to recognize—and increasingly seemed like the natural way Santa had always looked. Coca-Cola helped standardize and popularize the image rather than inventing Santa’s red clothing or his basic appearance.
An advertising character became a cultural shorthand
The ads worked because the design was simple to read at a glance: the red suit echoed Coca-Cola’s own branding, while the rounded face and relaxed expression made Santa seem friendly and approachable. As the image circulated, other depictions of Santa increasingly resembled it, reinforcing the same visual cues.
The result was not a single moment when Santa’s appearance changed, but a gradual narrowing of possibilities. Artists had long imagined him in different ways; repeated commercial imagery helped make one version—the jolly, red-suited grandfather—feel like the default.
