Santa Claus and Coca-Cola

Christmas is just days away, which means the obligatory observance of consumerism will be soon upon us. 

Santa Claus, of course, is an iconic representation of this celebration. But I betcha you probably didn't realize that you're looking at an advertisement for Coca-Cola. 

Although Santa, as a concept, has existed for centuries, the classic, uniform image of the jolly fat man that we all know didn't exist until Coke essentially created it. Before Coke's design, the image of Santa was amorphous and fluid and entirely dependent on the artist behind the drawing. 

However, once the famous Coca-Cola ads featuring St. Nick hit the presses, almost every subsequent artist leaned on the soft drink giant's version as a stable template. 

Check out a condensed but insightful history of how Coca-Cola invented the modern Santa Claus:

 

On Sunday, Celtic won their 20th Scottish League Cup when they secured a 2-1 victory over Hibernian. 

Actually, the Edinburgh-based club scored first – in the fifty-sixth minute – but Kyogo Furuhashi’s double (52, 72) handed Ange Postecoglou his first trophy as Celtic manager.