Red coat, red Coke logo — don't you see? Other artists had rendered Santa with the usual clichés, but Sundblom gave him a sense of inner delight that few artists could match. I know what you're thinking: OK, Santa wasn't invented by Coke, but was he based on Finnish mushroom salesmen? Oh, and the mushrooms — the Amanita variety — were red and white, so that's where Santa comes from. European cultures abound with nasty, ugly characters who show up around Christmas to torment bad children in various ways.

Source: The Star December 24, 2023 20:39 UTC