The Original ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Had to Edit Out Coca-Cola Ads

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For over 60 years, A Charlie Brown Christmas has become a beloved holiday tradition, and its images are everywhere in popular culture. Many people who’ve seen it – whether on TV, PBS, video, or streaming – can easily recall key moments. Interestingly, most viewers aren’t aware that the version they’ve seen isn’t actually the complete, original special.

The Peanuts Christmas special was created in the early 1960s. Despite the popularity of Charles Schulz’s comic strip, television networks weren’t very enthusiastic about a 30-minute Christmas show. Coca-Cola then decided to fund the production, and, as was common with TV programs at the time, the show directly mentioned Coca-Cola as a sponsor.

The 1965 broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas included a memorable ice skating scene where Snoopy spins Linus around, sending him flying into a Coca-Cola advertisement sign. The special also ended with a message: “Merry Christmas from the People Who Bottle Coca-Cola.”

Why Was ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Changed?


United Feature Syndicate

When A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on December 9, 1965, it quickly boosted the popularity of the Peanuts characters. The following year, Dolly Madison snack cakes began featuring Peanuts characters on their packaging and teamed up with Coca-Cola to sponsor a new special, Charlie Brown’s All-Stars! Both companies received sponsorship mentions within the show. However, when CBS prepared to re-air A Charlie Brown Christmas later in 1966, Dolly Madison was unhappy that Coca-Cola was the only sponsor prominently featured. This led to changes in the opening message and the addition of a voiceover mentioning Dolly Madison in the end credits. These in-show ads were also altered to comply with FCC rules requiring clear separation between advertising and program content. As a result, both later television broadcasts and home video versions have left out these original scenes.

Since its first airing 60 years ago, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been edited in various ways. Most sitcoms today run for 22 minutes, leaving about 8-9 minutes for commercials. Because the original special is 25 minutes long, some scenes have been shortened or removed to fit a typical 30-minute time slot. One common cut is a scene of Linus throwing snowballs at an empty can – some thought it was removed because the can was a Coca-Cola product, but that’s not true. Interestingly, some broadcasts have actually added extra animation to extend the special to fill a full hour, rather than cutting it down.

Since the original aired, animation technology has improved, so some scenes have been updated – not just to look good in HD and 4K, but also to refine the simpler parts. The sound has been improved too, and one small detail was changed: Snoopy’s food bowl was originally white, but it’s now red.

As a huge Peanuts fan, I was so worried about finding these classic holiday specials! It’s amazing, but for a long time, the original versions were almost impossible to find. Luckily, someone dug them up and put them online! Now, you can stream A Charlie Brown Christmas and all the other great Peanuts specials on Apple TV, which is a huge relief!

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2025-12-17 05:05