Our Coca Cola Santa 75th Anniversary Christmas Ornaments are 8 inches long, including the 3 inch hanging loop, and 4 inches wide. The Coca Cola Christmas Ornament shows Santa with a glass of Coke, sitting in a soft green chair with four of Santas elves helping him relax. One of Santas elves is pouring him a glass of Coke, another has removed his Santa hat, and another is pulling off his boots while another is ready to put on his slippers. On the back of the Coca Cola Santa Ornament is a bas-relief image of the Coca Cola Santa 75th anniversary logo. The bas-relief image depicts a 2 inch diameter, silver, bottle cap with “Coca Cola Santa 75th anniversary 2006” and the Coca Cola Santa image in relief on top of the bottle cap. These one of a kind Coca Cola Santa 75th Anniversary Christmas Ornaments are truly a collectors item.
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75th Anniversary of The Coca Cola Santa.
In 1931, the Coca Cola Company developed advertising images using Santa Claus. What started as an advertising campaign soon became a tradition that has captured the public’s fancy for 75 years.
Most people agree that Santa Claus is a pleasantly plump, jolly man with a red suit and white beard. Santa Claus has been depicted as everything from a tall gaunt man to a rather spooky looking elf. His costume has included a bishop’s robe, a Norse huntsman’s animal skin. Our modern day Santa is a combination of several stories from many countries. For example, Santa’s reindeer and sleigh are from Scandinavian stories and his pipe and chimney were taken from stories from Holland.
Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast depicted Santa Claus, for Harper’s Weekly, in 1892, as a small elf like man who supported the Union. Thomas Nast drew Santa for 30 years and as time changed he changed the color of Santa’s coat from tan to the, now traditional, red.
The Coca Cola Company began its Christmas advertising in the 1920’s with shopping related print ads in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post. The first Santa ads used a strict looking Santa, in the same style as that of Thomas Nast.
Santa Claus made another appearance in Coca Cola advertising in 1930. This time artist Fred Mizen painted a department store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke. The ad featured the world’s largest soda fountain, which was located in the department store of Famous Barr co. in St. Louis, Ms. Mizen’s painting was used in print as that Christmas season, appearing in the Saturday Evening Post on December 27, 1930.
Archie Lee, who was the agency advertising executive for Coal Cola, wanted the next campaign to show a wholesome Santa as both realistic and symbolic. In 1931, Coca Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom of Michigan, to develop the advertising images of Santa Claus.
Sundblom used Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” as the inspiration for his images. Moore’s description of Santa as “chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf” led to the image of Santa as warm, friendly and human. For 35 years, Sundblom painted portraits of Santa that created the modern image of Santa Claus that lives on in the hearts of children of all ages all over the world.
A company called HALCO are the makers of the original red Santa Suit and hat with white fur trim. HALCO, which has been around for over 60 years and has been a member of the National Costumer’s Association for over 20 years, still makes Costumes for Santa’s, Mrs. Claus’s and many Elves across the United States and around the world.
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Mrs. Santa Claus History.
Since Santa Claus evolved from St. Nicholas, a celibate priest, it is believes that Mrs. Claus was originally created simply because the German glassblowers felt that she would have appeal to the American public. Very few of the early glass Mrs. Claus ornaments were made because some considered it sacrilegious to bestow a wife upon a priest.
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