Polar bears became Coca-Cola advertising icons in the 1993 “Always Coca-Cola” campaign.
The animated advertisement “Northern Lights” introduced a group of polar bears watching the aurora and drinking Coca-Cola. The animals’ snowy environment and gentle behavior gave the campaign a distinctive visual identity that contrasted with many louder, faster soft-drink commercials.
Coca-Cola had used polar-bear imagery before 1993, but the “Always Coca-Cola” campaign made the characters especially recognizable. Later advertisements expanded their personalities and relationships, turning them into recurring brand figures.
The bears are fictional advertising characters rather than an official symbol of the Arctic or a scientific depiction of polar-bear behavior. Their popularity helped make them one of Coca-Cola’s best-known modern promotional images.