Even though Santa Claus still frequently appears on Coca-Cola logos throughout the Christmas season, one classic component has been missing for a long time. The polar bear—or rather, the elephant in the room—needs to be addressed.
When it comes to holiday marketing, thousands of firms do their own thing, but maybe none are as well-known as Coca-Cola. Along with the iconic polar bear advertisements, many of us have childhood memories of Santa Claus enjoying a nice glass bottle of Coke. But those polar bears haven’t been present at the holidays in recent years, and it appears that Coca-Cola has a good explanation for why.
History of Coca-Cola’s Polar Bear
The polar bear has been used in Coca-Cola branding since a French ad in 1922, according to NoLie Communications. It shows the bear filling a thirsty sun’s mouth with cool Coca-Cola. But the polar bear didn’t become a mainstay until 70 years later. Following a marketing makeover in 1993, the beverage firm unveiled its “Always Coca-Cola” campaign, which included 27 commercials. Up until the early 2010s, polar bears would remain a significant component of the brand.
Coca-Cola Says Goodbye to Iconic Polar Bear
The polar bear was classified as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on May 15, 2008. Despite not being endangered at the moment, this designation indicates that the bears are likely to become endangered in the future. As a result, Coca-Cola changed their marketing strategy and started the Arctic Home campaign in 2012. More than $2 million was raised for polar bear conservation as a result of the campaign.
In addition to the standard red cans, the business launched 1.4 billion limited edition white cans with polar bears as part of the campaign. Since then, though, these have been phased away, and no additional polar bear branding has emerged. I don’t see why they stopped, myself. It would seem that seeing pictures of polar bears all the time would remind people of their beauty and inspire a desire to protect them. However, I can see the company’s perspective because it may be considered callous to promote a product including a polar bear image. I still miss the bears, though.
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