He was featured in Coca-Cola ads since the 1920’s
Since the 1920’s, Santa has been a part of Coca-Cola’s holiday marketing. The company began to advertise for Christmas, taking out spots in The Saturday Evening Post. Thomas Nast’s image of Santa served as the inspiration, though Santa didn’t appear sweet and jolly until Haddon Sundblom started to illustrate for Coca-Cola in the 1930’s.