Why is Santa Claus Red?
By: Derry Chen
Tags: History, Coca Cola, Santa Claus, Christmas, Holidays

Why is Santa Claus Red?

What are the true origins of Christmas’ most important character?

When we think of Santa, most of us immediately conjure up an image of a merry, white-bearded, plump old man in a red fur robe. This depiction is almost authoritative nowadays. In fact, many can’t imagine a Santa otherwise, and the “why” is usually never questioned. The more trivia-minded may interject, “Santa’s plump and red because of Coca-Cola!” But is this really true? Why does Santa look the way he does today?

A Brief History of Santa Claus

The real-life Santa Claus was a man named Nicholas, who was born in modern-day Turkey around the 3rd century C.E. Known for his good deeds, he eventually became a bishop and a saint. Saint Nicholas’ penchant for delivering gifts to children during Christmas first became cemented in Christian Europe around the late middle-ages (13–15th century C.E.). When European settlers started colonizing the New World, they of course brought with them their Old World Christmas traditions. However, it wasn’t until the 1800s that Santa truly became popular as a cultural icon. Before this time, Santa was commonly depicted as a skinny, old man in bishop’s robes riding a white horse, an image still prevalent in many European countries today. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century was when the modern-day image of Santa really started to develop.

Sinterklaas, the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus. This is probably much closer to how Santa was depicted in the Middle Ages. Wikimedia Commons.

Santa Fought for the Union

The first depiction of Santa Claus that most closely resembles our modern-day rendition most likely comes from Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Here, Santa is described as “dressed in fur from his head to his foot,” “chubby and plump, and a right jolly old elf,” as well as riding a reindeer sleigh and coming down chimneys to deliver presents.

The next influential individual to really evangelize the modern depiction of Santa was Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist for the magazine Harper’s Weekly. He started working in 1862, right on the onset of the Civil War, where his annual illustrations of Santa gained a lot of popularity due to the magazine’s top distribution at the time. Nast’s Santa generally stayed in line with Moore’s depiction of a plump old man with a white beard, but often changed the wardrobe options ranging from suit patterns to hats and shoes. What made Nast’s Santa truly interesting, however, was the political nature of his illustrations. Nast was a staunch Union supporter, and therefore many of the Santa depictions conveyed pro-Union and pro-military messages.

“Merry Old Santa Clause” by Thomas Nast, 1881. This drawing of Santa might look normal at first glance, but is actually chock full of political symbolism. Nast was protesting government indecisiveness in addressing low wages in the military. Santa is carrying an army sword and backpack, and a clock hand that represents the urgency of the matter, just to name a few symbols. Wikimedia Commons.

Coca-Cola Santa

After Nast passed away in 1902, depictions of Santa Claus lost consistency for a number of years. At the turn of the 20th century, Santa became ever more important in commercial marketing, as demand for Santa ads and mall Santas increased, but it was hard to pinpoint a standardized depiction. Physical traits ranged from tall to short, skinny to round, and the suits even differed in color (although some traits may have been more common than others, like wearing red and having a white beard).

Coca-Cola started using Santa in its ads in the 1920s, but it wasn’t until 1931 that the company commissioned Haddon Sundblom to create the legendary Coca-Cola Santa Claus that we know today. Coca-Cola wanted to market its products more to children but couldn’t do so due to a stigma against the coca plant at the time (although Coca-Cola already stopped using coca as an actual ingredient). Santa was their answer to how they can more discreetly appeal to children and family values.

Sundblom was heavily inspired by Moore’s poem and Nast’s illustrations and created the plump, white-bearded, red-robed, jolly old man we all know and love today. Sundblom’s Santa was often depicted surrounded by children or delivering toys as well to conform to Coca-Cola’s sales agenda. Thus also did the propaganda value of Santa’s depictions finally morph from political to commercial.

The Coca-Cola marketing department came storming out the gates with the Santa campaign, finding ad-space in all major magazines, billboards, and retail counters. Sundblom’s Santa became an instant icon, and arguably became the de facto depiction of Santa Claus known in pop culture. Sundblom continued to iterate upon and release Santa illustrations for Coca-Cola until 1964. By then, his version of Santa Claus was more or less cemented in the people’s collective memory. The slew of Christmas books, movies, and other mediums to follow only further complimented this modern rendition of Santa Claus.