Coca-Cola did not create the image of Santa Claus
Thomas Nast takes the credit of creating the first illustration of a jolly, round Santa Claus in a red suit. He made the illustration for Harper’s Weekly. However, Coca-Cola did make this idea of Santa more mainstream when Haddon Sundblom used his friend, Lou Prentiss, as the model for Santa. After his friend passed away, Sundblom used himself as the model.