[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by A Thousand Threads

Coca-Cola actually invented the image of the modern Santa Claus for a advertising campaign in 1931.
That´s pretty much all i know about the legend of Santa.

Here in Austria we have a so called "Christ Kindl" , translated - "christ-child".
i remember my grandmother saying: "This year there won´t be any presents, the russians shot the christ-child"

I remember hearing something to that effect on a documentary once.

http://www.icubed.com/~colagrrl/xmas.htm for thumbs of Coca-Cola illustrator Haddon Sundblom's Santas

Coca-Cola and Christmas

In 1931, the Coca-Cola Company commissioned Chicago illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop the image of a human-like Santa Claus, based on the positive public response to a magazine advertisement for Coca-Cola depicting such a character that appeared in late 1930. Prior to Sundblom's first rendition in 1931, people envisioned Santa Claus as leprechaun-like, or as a queer mixture of a gnome and a bishop. Over the next third of a century, Sundblom's Santa would be embraced by the public worldwide, and become a holiday tradition.

For inspiration in creating his Santa Claus, Sundblom turned to Clement Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas". Moore's description of the toy maker as "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly and human.

Sundblom often used neighborhood kids, dogs and family members as models, changing their hair color, clothes, even genders to suit his subject. Sundblom's original model for Santa was his friend and neighbor Lou Prentice, a retired salesman. After Prentice died in the late 1940's, Sundblom would often find his model by looking in the mirror.

The remaining Santa paintings use Sundblom as his own model -- although he said he added the beard as he painted, rather than growing one.

Haddon Sundblom painted 35 years of Santa portraits that were used in magazine ads and posters, and which now also appear in special exhibitions around the world.

"Of the thousands of pieces of art in our archives, none is as valuable as the Sundblom Santas," said Philip F. Mooney, the Company's archivist. "But their value goes beyond the worth of the paintings themselves."

 

Another one of Haddon Sundblom's famous creations for the Coca-Cola Company was the Sprite Boy, which was originally used to introduce the brand name Coke in 1942. The Sprite Boy wore either a soda-jerk's cap to promote fountain sales of Coke or a bottle cap to advertise bottled Coca-Cola. After 1949, the Sprite Boy would not appear with Santa again, and he disappeared altogether from advertising for Coca-Cola by 1958.

Haddon Sundblom, who died in 1976, created numerous illustrations used in advertising for Coca-Cola over the years, but is best known for the Santa and Sprite Boy characters.