Coke didn’t invent Santa. The astonishing thing is that for a moment we might even believe that they did. If you think about it, our conception of just about every distant historical or mythical figure is just an artifact of the stories that marketers have told us. Sometimes they’re marketing for profit, other times they’re just spinning a tale (Washington and his cherry tree).

It all comes down to two simple things:

• Most people want to believe.
• And we’re most comfortable believing what everyone else believes.