2007-12-21 12:08:56 · 12 answers · asked by unsure 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Santa Claus who began as St Nickolas, a christian martyr who died in the 300's, was an idea brought to this country by the Pilgrims.
In the 1920's, the image of Santa had been standardized to portray a bearded, over-weight, jolly man dressed in a red suit with white trim. 1931: Haddon Sundblom, illustrator for The Coca-Cola ™ company drew a series of Santa images in their Christmas advertisements until 1964.
2007-12-21 12:22:05 · answer #1 · answered by aidan402 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
o_O. The idea of Santa Claus traces its origins back to the beginning of the St. Nicholas society which began around the year 1772 way before the dawn of McDonald's and Coca Cola. But if you must attribute jolly old St. Nick to something you can thank the poem "The Night Before Christmas" which was written in 1823 and had a large impact on the image of Santa Claus today.
McDonalds and Coca Cola did not create Santa Claus, all they did was use his image to mass advertise.
2007-12-21 20:22:19 · answer #2 · answered by kojiharmony 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
None of those companies "created" Santa Clause. But, the Coca-Cola company was the one who made the character famous, by having a picture of Santa Claus on there glass bottles, I believe.
2007-12-21 20:18:11 · answer #3 · answered by paris_kitties_pink 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Thomas Nast was a newspaperman who drew many illustrations for popular magazines, especially Harper's, before and during the American Civil War. It was Nast who first drew a characature of Santa, though in a green suit. He didn't confine Santa to that suit, but at various times drew the jolly old elf in a variety of costumes, bur always with his bag of gifts. He even drew Santa appearing among Union soldiers handing out gifts.
Coca Cola is generally credited with having Santa drawn in a bright red suit, and though that was not the first time St. Nick was drawn in red, that particular image was seen so widely and so often that it has become the current popular image of Santa. So, although Coke didn't invent Santa (and McDonald's had absolutely nothing to do with it), they did pretty much set the current image in stone.
2007-12-21 22:51:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually, The original Santa had a green suit. Coca Cola put him the red one....to match their logo...pretty clever huh? It stuck!
2007-12-21 20:17:17 · answer #5 · answered by b0rnbad 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Are you serious? Coca Cola may have come up with the picture we think of but, he has been around longer then either of them. This was a joke, right?
2007-12-21 20:15:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Coca Cola came up with the current santa that we know. coke made him his fat and cheery with a beard etc
2007-12-21 20:21:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Actually, it was Thomas Nast, a cartoonist who drew for newspapers and magazines at the end of the 19th century. You can Google him and see his original portraits of Santa.
2007-12-21 20:33:21 · answer #8 · answered by steve_geo1 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It was actually Clement Moore.
Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse...
2007-12-22 09:38:12 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think McDonald's created either.
2007-12-21 23:27:08 · answer #10 · answered by two11ll 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋