Coca-Cola is launching a Yuletide PR push aimed at establishing Father
Christmas as an ambassador for Coke, which it hopes will replace sherry
and port as the UK’s traditional festive tipple. Clarion Communications
will spend the run-up to Christmas reminding consumers that it was the
Coca-Cola Company which established Santa Claus’s ‘traditional’ image.
His appearance as a tubby, white-bearded man dressed in red and white
livery was established in the 1930s, and based on artwork for Coca-Cola
ads produced by Swedish artist Haddon Sundblom.