The story of Santa Claus in pop culture: from tradition to icon

Yes, we all recognize him immediately. He is a key figure in pop culture: he started as Saint Nicholas (the saint of children) in 4th-century traditions, a good man who distributed gifts to children’s homes, and somehow he has ended up being a jolly fat man who drinks Coca-Cola, protects the Earth from Martians, and stars in everything from Looney Tunes and South Park cartoons to Marvel and DC comics. How did we get to this point? How did pop culture build Santa Claus?

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Popular Saint

There has always been a tradition of giving gifts at Christmas. Whether it was by the Three Wise Men, Father Christmas, Olentzero, Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas himself, the Western world perfectly understood the connection between the holidays and gifts. There was only one thing missing, which was vital to fully build the character: an appearance and a name that everyone could instantly recognize and that would be iconic.

Back in the 19th century, in the English colonies of North America, children already believed in Santa Claus, which is a name derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas. In fact, the first time the name was used in the press was in 1773, in the Rivington’s Gazette of New York. Santa Claus, at that time, was a fat Dutch sailor who smoked a pipe and wore a green coat. It wasn’t until 1821 and the poem Old Santeclaus With Much Delight that something of what we know today was recognized.

In this poem, accompanied by a drawing in which he was seen wearing a red sweater, it talked about a sleigh pulled by several reindeer, in which he carried gifts to children, and that vision grew over the years, the books, and the poems, which agreed on the same thing: Santa Claus was chubby, had a sleigh… And he was a dwarf, Lilliputian, a miniature person. But it wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the character was fully developed thanks to the illustrator Thomas Nast, who decided to draw him near the North Pole and with a normal person size. Gradually, the rest of the elements appeared naturally: Mrs. Claus (who didn’t become fully popular until the late 1950s), his immortality, his motivations, etc. Everything was ready for the arrival of Coca-Cola.

Always Coca-Claus

Many say that Santa Claus was created by Coca-Cola and that his red and white suit was designed to emulate the brand’s colors, but this is not true at all. Coca-Cola, like Pepsi, its rival, depicted the character just as hundreds of illustrators had done before. They only added the bottle next to him, inevitably linking them. And no, they were not the only ones: during the 30s, 40s, and 50s, he became a very popular (and lucrative) figure in Christmas advertisements.

Before these years arrived, Santa Claus had already made his way to the cinema, debuting in 1897 with Santa Claus Filling Stockings, which has been lost in the ether of time. But he also had his own comics, newspaper strips, novels, plays, radio shows, and even video games much later on. In fact, he started to become a familiar face on screens to the point where he starred in oddities like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Santa Claus (in which he teams up with Merlin to fight against Satan) or Cinderella Meets Fella, a Merrie Melodies short where he made an impossible crossover with Cinderella.

Santa Claus faced off with Jesus Christ in an episode of South Park, gave a particular spin-off to Rudolph, his red-nosed reindeer, and starred in songs and carols that incessantly and horrifically hammer our ears at this time of year. He continues to star in all kinds of commercials, movies have even been dedicated to his elves (not to mention the fantastic Elf) and he remains a perfect protagonist of festive animated films (the latest important one, Klaus). It’s no wonder Santa Claus is everywhere. He even once replaced the Corn Flakes rooster to appear on the box and was seen at McDonald’s all over the world!

Brands created Santa Claus. He is a perfect attraction that unifies everyone, instantly recognizable regardless of folklore, and willing to be perverted in comics, platform video games, slashers, and all kinds of advertisements. He is somewhat like the mascot of Christmas, able to be everywhere at once, star in action movies, team up with Spider-man, and be replaced by Tim Allen or Homer Simpson. Pop culture has created an icon starring in hundreds of sketches with varying degrees of dark humor, but they have never quite turned him into a walking joke. And as such, we must embrace him. Because, after all, if we are naughty children, we won’t receive gifts. And nobody wants that, right?

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