Ho Ho Ho - Setting the Facts Straight!

Our local TV news (WGN-TV) did a segment today about Coke "launching Santa that we know today". This myth is hard to kill!!!!

White Rock had 2 black & white ads in 1915 & 1916 with Santa as we see him today, and then 3 color ads in '23, '24, & '25 which show Santa indistinguishable from Coke's 1930 (artist: Fred Mizen) & 1931 (artist: Haddon Sundblom) ads. So, as far as using Santa in soda ads, White Rock bests Coke by 15 years! Neither one "invented" the modern look. Thomas Nast in 1881 probably comes closest to that title, and Norman Rockwell's Santa covers for the Saturday Evening Post added even more details.