{"id":3875,"date":"2025-12-12T11:44:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/?p=3875"},"modified":"2025-12-12T11:55:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:55:32","slug":"the-first-christmas-commercial-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/the-first-christmas-commercial-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Christmas Commercial Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Pen-and-ink
“Come, child, sit on my lap and tell me your wishes.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Commercialism has been inextricably linked with Christmas going back generations \u2014 the first time Gu\u00f0mundur put up a note in the town square reminding Gj\u00f6gur he offers the freshest oranges to put in their children\u2019s shoes, the Lexus Car Bow was an inevitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas advertising as we know it really kicked off in the mid-1800s<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if Christmas advertising evolved into the Christmas TV commercial, that means there had to be a first one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And today, you\u2019re gonna see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we get there, we need to acknowledge a significant contributor to holiday advertising culture: Coca-Cola<\/a>. 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 \u2014 Sundblom\u2019s jolly old elf has been the defining image of Santa, unless you want to sit your kid down on this guy<\/a>\u2019s lap to tell him their Christmas list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why,<\/em> you might ask, have I gone into such detail about the prominence of Coca-Cola in holiday advertising history?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coca-Cola on the air<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n