Santa Claus, whom we know and love - Putkuna, a cheerful old man in a red coat with white beard - did not always look like that.
In fact, there was a time when Santa was portrayed as either a tall, thin man or a chia tan elf.
The prototype of Santa is St. Nicholas, who has undergone a major transformation in masculinity over the years. One of the most important roles in creating the image of a modern Santa is played by the Coca-Cola company.
Santa's way
The first image of Santa Claus appeared in print media in 1862.
The American Civil War was raging at the time, and political cartoonist Thomas Nest painted a positive character for Harper's Weekly magazine, a hero who distributed presents to soldiers and people. It was a small-bodied, elf-sized man adorned with a patriotic robe - a mantle with American flag print.
Because people liked this character so much, Nest used it for almost 30 years in various cartoon scenes. During this time, Nest’s Santa underwent a transformation, becoming a more masculine, cheerful character, who took off his dark clothes and finally wore a red mantle.
It all happened before Coca-Cola "invited" Santa in its own ad.
Coca-Cola began making Christmas commercials in the 1920s. Back then, this carbonated drink was already popular in many countries, though mostly associated with summer and cooling.
To boost winter sales, designer Archie Lim from D’Arcy advertising agency came up with a new slogan for the drink, "Thirst knows no season" and created Coca-Cola's first "winter" ad.
The ad featured a skier in a red suit.
This costume even looked like Santa's attire, but only appeared in a Santa Coca-Cola ad in the late 1920s - it was a picture in The Saturday Evening Post magazine. The first Santa was skinny and looked like a dwarf cartoon character - Elf.
As early as 1930, artist Fred Mycenae painted an advertisement for Coca-Cola depicting a real Santa, almost as we know him today - a fat, red-haired man with a large waist. However, unlike our kind Santa, he was a little more arrogant. He was standing in a large department store, surrounded by children, and drinking Coca-Cola from a bottle.
However, the revolution in Santa's image and its eventual connection to Coca-Cola dates back to 1931, when Coca-Cola hired another artist, Hedon Sandblom, from the D'Arcy agency for its advertising campaign.
For inspiration, Sandblom used Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem "The Visit of St. Nicholas". In this poem, Nicholas is a warm, benevolent middle-aged man who distributes gifts.
Santa, painted by Sandblum, was very "human" - he no longer looked like either a fairytale elf or that arrogant man from the department store.
Sandblum's debut was in 1931 in The Saturday Evening Post. Since then, Coca-Cola New Year's ads with the image of Sandblum Santa appeared regularly in National Geographic, The New Yorker, outdoor advertisements and posters.
Sandblom’s Santa is wearing a red coat decorated with white fur.
It is widely believed that the colours of Santa's costume are related to the Coca-Cola brand colors. However, this is not the case. Santa was first depicted in red-and-white clothing as far back as 1902, long before Coca-Cola's advertising campaign.
In 1945, when the soldiers were returning home, Santa, who appeared on the banners, was also returning home - into a cozy house, holding a bottle of Coca-Cola.
Sandblom used himself as a model to create Santa - he stood by the mirror and painted.
People fell in love with Coca-Cola Santa so much that even the slightest change in his image was noticed. One year when Sandblom divorced his wife, the wedding ring disappeared from Santa's finger, and fans filled Coca-Cola's home office with letters asking what had happened to Miss Claus.
Sandblom created the last painting for Coca-Cola in 1964.
The originals of Sandblom's drawings are housed at the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta. Santa's collection is recognized as a work of modern art and has been exhibited in many major museums around the world, including the Louvre.
White bears and caravans
Since 1993, Coca-Cola has come up with new Christmas faces - a family of polar bears. These images were created by screenwriter and director Ken Stewart, they have been the characters of Coca-Cola New Year's commercials for years.
In 2013, legendary director Ridley Scott even made a short cartoon about these bears.
Another Coca-Cola New Year symbol, of course, is the shining caravan of trucks that first appeared in 1995 in Coca-Cola commercials.
Coca-Cola New Year's advertisement - the flickering lights of a truck caravan surrounded by winter landscapes and the song "New Year" became a symbol of winter, New Year and Christmas. Studies show that in some countries consumers associate the start of the Christmas season with the appearance of this ad on TV.
Hedon Sandblom’s legacy can also be found here - the iconic Santa image adorns the sides of the trucks.
Traditions continue
In 2021, Coca-Cola launched a new campaign to bring to festive tables and family dinners.
The company's slogan is “true magic" and refers to the great magic that accompanies people being together, as well as solidarity and support for each other.
In times of severe pandemic, this is exactly what the world needs most - such is the message of Coca-Cola.
The 2021 commercial is a small short film that reminds us that the greatest happiness is the time spent with family and friends.
Filmed by Rogue Films director Sam Brown, this two-and-a-half-minute film and its short versions are aired in 90 countries across the world.
Georgia was no exception and the ad was introduced to the local market with a campaign adapted by McCann Tbilisi and original content.
In addition, a special New Year digital platform Realmagic.ge has been created in Georgia, which users can access after scanning the QR displayed on the labels of Coca-Cola bottles.
There are many interesting things here - for example, the New Year playlist on Spotify, where you will find tastefully selected Christmas music instead of Mariah Carey's Christmas hit and other boring music.
There is also a special section where you can listen to personal and original congratulations of celebrities and watch non-traditional New Year video-recipes.
All you have to do to get into this world is scan your Coca-Cola label.