Coca-Cola’s elf-like advertising character introduced in 1942 was called Sprite Boy.
Sprite Boy appeared in Coca-Cola advertising during the 1940s and 1950s. The character was associated with the word “Sprite,” which at the time was used as a nickname for Coca-Cola rather than as the name of the lemon-lime soft drink launched later.
The character’s name can cause confusion because Coca-Cola introduced the Sprite soft drink in 1961. Sprite Boy predates that product by nearly two decades and was part of Coca-Cola’s broader effort to build memorable visual branding around its name and nickname, Coke.
Sprite Boy is less famous today than the Coca-Cola polar bear or the brand’s Santa Claus imagery, but he illustrates how the company used illustrated characters in print advertising. His history also shows that brand names can acquire new meanings as a company expands its product portfolio.