Commercialism has been inextricably linked with Christmas going back generations — the first time Guðmundur put up a note in the town square reminding Gjögur he offers the freshest oranges to put in their children’s shoes, the Lexus Car Bow was an inevitability.
Christmas advertising as we know it really kicked off in the mid-1800s when Sir Henry Cole hired an artist to design a special holiday card for him to send out to his business contacts. From there, holiday promotional practices evolved through Christmas cards with promotional prices to straight-up print ads and beyond. And, ultimately, to our TV screens.
And if Christmas advertising evolved into the Christmas TV commercial, that means there had to be a first one.
And today, you’re gonna see it.
Before we get there, we need to acknowledge a significant contributor to holiday advertising culture: Coca-Cola. Originally, Santa Claus/St. Nicholas/Father Christmas appeared in a culturally innate variety of guises. Our current, universally embraced image of Santa Claus as a chubby, bearded, jolly fellow in a red suit was actually an invention of Coca-Cola, first appearing thusly thanks to the artistic vision of Haddon Sundblom. Since 1931, Coke has been it — Sundblom’s jolly old elf has been the defining image of Santa, unless you want to sit your kid down on this guy’s lap to tell him their Christmas list.
But why, you might ask, have I gone into such detail about the prominence of Coca-Cola in holiday advertising history?
Coca-Cola on the air
Yes, Coca-Cola is kind of low-hanging fruitcake when it comes to any kind of holiday advertising, but we have to credit them as early adopters jumping right into a new medium just months after the first-ever (non-holiday) commercial aired in September of 1955. In 1955, they encouraged you to serve Coca-Cola at your winter gatherings.
And it was a thing. In 1956, Chevrolet encouraged you to look forward to 1957 and buy a Chevy right quick in time for the new year. And in 1957, Schick raised the question of what she wants for Christmas. The answer? All your love. And a Lady Schick shaver, for “all the loveliness to keep it.”
He will stop loving you if you have hairy legs, ladies, and also merry Christmas.
In 1958, Coca-Cola reminded us that holiday time is a good time for the good taste of Coke, both with a cute animated ad and with a live-action ad featuring a Santa doll that’s more cute than creepy, mostly.
Today, of course, Coca-Cola brings us their annual dead-eyed, uncanny-valley, AI-generated threat that Holidays Are Coming. But it all started with a sled full of cute kids swooshing down a hill in celebration of Coke’s tastiness at Christmastime.
Merry Christmas.
Early, but not Weepy
While a 1961 housewife might find herself fighting back tears when she opens her new Hoover Constellation vacuum cleaner, that doesn’t mean the ad itself is a tear-jerker. But you will find plenty of those in our annual Weepy Awards, celebrating the holiday ads that make you sniffle in a sentimental way. As you encounter weepy ads during your holiday viewing, you can nominate the weepiest of them here in comments, on LinkedIn or Facebook, or via email. Then watch this space to see if your favorites make it into the medals.