Bluebottle writes:

It is well known that the current image of Father Christmas and Santa Claus as a man in red and white was heavily promoted by drink company Coca Cola from the 1920s onwards. The Coca Cola Company wasn't the first to depict Santa in red; his appearance was previously undefined and so would wear whatever colour the artist chose. Yet Coca Cola's artist Haddon Sundblom in his highly influential adverts from 1931 was instrumental in ensuring the popularity of Red Santa over all others.


Coca Cola has since continued with its Christmas tradition and uses product placement in Christmas films including Santa Claus the Movie and Elf. And inspired by its television adverts involving highly decorated lorries driving across the land while glowing like Christmas trees, they announced they would have a Coca Cola Lorry tour across the UK, which has led to a lot of complaints that the lorry is targeting the areas in the UK with the highest obesity rates.


Last year the big, red Coca-Cola lorry parked in the square outside my place of work. However it wasn't an original lorry from their 'Holidays are Coming' advert, which had impressive lights and are quite disappointing in comparison, just red with a couple of neon strips. People seemed excited and the queue to officially stand next to it stretched all the way round the block. Everyone was given a free microscopic-sized cans previously only ever seen on aeroplanes. I saw the lorry when I went out at lunchtime and at the end of the day on my home too.

Watch for more festive photos in December's Post.

Bluebottle

18.12.17 Front Page

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