Naked Science Forum

On the Lighter Side => That CAN'T be true! => Topic started by: paul.fr on 26/12/2007 22:06:31

Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: paul.fr on 26/12/2007 22:06:31
I know christmas has passed, but still the questions persist.

Is the image of a fat jolly santa in his clothes really just what the PR people at coca cola  thought up?
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: Bass on 02/01/2008 05:32:00
It's no worse than putting penguins and polar bears together.
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: another_someone on 02/01/2008 14:31:00
Can't find any reference to Coca Cola in anything regarding Santa Claus, let alone with regard to Saint Nicholas of Myra (the Turkish city of Demre, the modern city that was Myra, now has even erected a statue of an archetypal Santa Claus).

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F5%2F5b%2FDemre_Noel_Baba_op_Plein.JPG%2F300px-Demre_Noel_Baba_op_Plein.JPG&hash=92341f64618f86f96fce63e550e28465)

Modern Santa Claus seems to be part Dutch, part British, and blended in America.

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Ff%2Ff3%2FSanta_Claus_1863_Harpers.png&hash=ccc760b29d737109d9e7e8e307565060)
Santa Claus in 1863.
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: techmind on 03/01/2008 11:14:35
The standard reference useful to check the validity or otherwise of so-called "urban legends" is www.snopes.com

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

Quote
Claim: The modern image of Santa Claus -- a jolly figure in a red-and-white suit -- was created by Coca-Cola
Status: False

The article concludes:
Quote
All this isn't to say that Coca-Cola didn't have anything to do with cementing that image of Santa Claus in the public consciousness.  The Santa image may have been standardized before Coca-Cola adopted it for their advertisements, but Coca-Cola had a great deal to do with establishing Santa Claus as a ubiquitous Christmas figure in America at a time when the holiday was still making the transition from a religious observance to a largely secular and highly commercial celebration.  In an era before color television (or commercial television of any kind), color films, and the widespread use of color in newspapers, it was Coca-Cola's magazine advertisements, billboards, and point-of-sale store displays that exposed nearly everyone in America to the modern Santa Claus image.  Coca-Cola certainly helped make Santa Claus one of the most popular men in America, but they didn't invent him.
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: rosalind dna on 03/01/2008 12:01:27
It is true actually, I had looked into this last year just out of interest
and remembered this one.
The reason that Santa Claus is clad in Red and White is because in the early part of the 20th century.

The Coca Cola company used him in their advertising to bring him to be noticed
by children and others when shopping mainly. Is partly false and true, as these sites say.
Also Santa Claus' name is a derivation from St. Nicholas, the giver of gifts
to small children as Santa does now.In the way that we all recognise him.

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_santa.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7152054.stm

Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: Karen W. on 03/01/2008 23:42:10
I have a Coca Cola can somewhere with a picture of Santa Clause on it! from several years ago.. LOL thats about the only thing I have ever seen related to Coca Cola! LOL..  Thats interesting though!
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: Bass on 04/01/2008 00:57:19
Did you know that Coca-Cola produces a limited number of glass Christmas bottles every year?  They are stamped with "Christmas" and the year on the bottom of the bottle.  A friend and I were mucking about in an old burned-out cabin a few years ago, and he found a 1923 Christmas bottle.  Don't know what it was worth- he worked for Coca-Cola so decided not to sell it.
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: Karen W. on 04/01/2008 02:02:49
Thats a real old one!
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: rosalind dna on 04/01/2008 14:44:50
LOL LOL LOL
Title: christmas and coca cola
Post by: tony6789 on 08/01/2008 19:13:15
they were just bored one day