Coca-Cola Holiday Ads Through the Years

(1) “My Hat’s Off to The Pause That Refreshes” — 1931. The magical transformation of the Coca-Cola Santa happened in 1931. Archie Lee, the ad agency creative director for the Coca-Cola account, was inspired to show a wholesome, kind Santa. He turned to artist Haddon Sundblom to create the image.

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(2) “Please Pause Here … Jimmy” — 1932. Sundblom's second painting features a note in which a child, Jimmy, leaves a Coke for Santa instead of cookies. This ad ran in the Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, Literary Digest and Ladies' Home Journal.

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(3) “The Pause That Keeps You Going” — 1934. Sundblom painted over the original 1931 canvas when he created the 1934 painting. A comparison of the two images shows that he added a little more fur, a hat and a whip.

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(4) “It Will Refresh You Too” — 1935. This ad shows that if drinking Coca-Cola is good enough to refresh Santa, it is good enough to refresh everyone else.

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(5) “Me Too” — 1936. In this painting, Santa enjoys himself in the midst of his bounty of toys and a Coca-Cola. 

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(7) “Thanks for the Pause that Refreshes” — 1938. A child first showed up in 1938 when Santa appeared embracing a youngster in the family living room. Reeling from the Great Depression, Americans desperately needed to be reminded of pleasant moments, and Coke, as much as anything, provided those moments.

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(8) “Thirst Asks Nothing More” — 1941. Here Santa relaxes next to a cooler of Coca-Colas. This image was used in calendars, cut outs and in print ads.

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(9) “Wherever I Go” — 1943. The Coca-Cola Santa was used in advertising to support the war effort. If you look closely, you can see that Santa has War Bonds in his sack.

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(10) “Here’s to Our G.I. Joes” — 1944. Santa and the Sprite Boy are featured saluting the troops during the holiday season. For many years the brand was only called Coca-Cola. In 1941 Coca-Cola trademarked the name “Coke,” with a series of ads indicating that Coca-Cola and Coke were the same drink. The company also introduced the Sprite Boy character at this time.

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(11) “They Knew What I Wanted” — 1945.  With the end of the Second World War came the return to civilian life and homecomings around the world. Here, Santa Claus and Coca-Cola offer a comforting vision of a return to a warm and welcoming home.

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(12) “Travel Refreshed” — 1949. Although this painting does not clearly show eight reindeer, the reference to the well-known team from Clement Clarke Moore’s poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is obvious. Again, Santa has some help from the Sprite boy in this piece of art.

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(13) “Now It’s My Time” — 1951. By the time Sundblom painted this Santa, he had become his own model using self-portraits from photographs, according to his wife Betty. But even in this painting, Sundblom tended to assume the three-quarter-view angle common to artists who paint themselves from a mirror’s reflection.

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(14) “… and Now the Gift for Thirst” — 1952. Sundblom painted his next door neighbors in Tucson, Arizona — Lani & Sancy Nason. Yes, they were sisters, but Sundblom changed one to a boy to create more balanced scenes. Sundblom said, "I don't know whether she liked being a boy or not. I never asked her." The Nasons also appeared in 1952 and 1953 works.

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(15) “Sparkling Holidays” — 1956. This Santa artwork is a cleaned-up version of the 1953 painting. Santa's work bench and other helpers were removed. This painting was produced by a new advertising agency for Coca-Cola, McCann-Erickson.

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(16) “Refreshing Surprise” — 1959. This artwork shows a departure for Sundblom. Previous images feature Santa as the main subject. But from 1959 onward, Santa plays an important part of the Christmas scene, but elves, children, pets and toys also play significant roles.

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(17)  “When Friends Drop In” — 1961. For Santa to do his work, he must secretly slip in and out of a home. In this painting Santa shushes a yapping schnauzer to avoid waking a sleeping family.

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(18) “Season’s Greetings” — 1962. In this painting Santa displays an impish, child-like personality. As in 1936, Santa has brought an electric train, but this time there is also a helicopter, something that did not exist until 1940.

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(20) “Things Go Better with Coke” — 1964. This was the last year that a traditional, original Sundblom Santa was used in the advertising for Coca-Cola.

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