Last week I was proud to tell you I had been sticking up for the underdog (or an undercat, to be precise), so I am surprised to find myself in the other corner this week and defending Coca-Cola.

How did that happen? A super-rich company and the world’s most widely spread brand hardly needs me to fight its battles, but if records need putting straight, then I can’t stop myself.

It started when I found out that the truck from the Coke Christmas advertisement is coming to Swindon. Because I love Christmas, I am trying to think of an excuse to be there on Saturday when it comes to Wharf Green.

If I don’t go it will only be because I can’t trust myself not to push my way to the front, past all the kids, to get a better picture.

But already a couple of friends have been bending my ear and accusing me of virtually having a pact with the devil.

First they have been suggesting Coke is somehow representative of all that’s wrong with Christmas, and then they formed themselves into an orderly queue to tell me that it is the unhealthiest product since DDT. It is, of course, neither.

Far from being what’s wrong with Christmas, Coca-Cola is, if you ask me, one of the things that’s still right.

I know the brand has made a bob or two for its owners over the years (understatement), but who are we to begrudge that to a firm that was – until thousands started copying it – a truly unique product?

You are at liberty to disagree with me when I say it is one of the most refreshing, tasty and distinctive drinks known to man, and therefore a good product, but you can’t deny it’s a great – and possibly the greatest – brand.

What I also like about Coke is that while most firms these days insult consumers with silly names and even sillier advertising, Coca-Cola have remained loyal to a long tradition of pleasant, inoffensive marketing, based on preserving the very highest standards of graphic design.

Coca-Cola stuff is iconic, and so beautifully designed that it often counts as art.

Their annual Christmas advertisements have a cosy Disney feel about them, which may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it is Christmas, so you can only be excused for moaning if your name is Ebenezer Scrooge.

The best thing of all, though, is how the brand has influenced our Christmas traditions for the better. The Santa Claus we recognise today was shaped by Coca-Cola in the 1930s, and amid all the modern pretenders and impostors of the modern Christmas, Coke stays true to its heritage.

I’m not silly enough to think they are perfect, but there are much worse organisations afoot.

In a country that has replaced Morecambe and Wise with the vicious violence of EastEnders on Christmas night, I can’t help seeing Coca-Cola as the good guys at Christmas, not the bad guys.

And if you are a certain age, you’ll also remember that Coke wanted to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

As for fizzy drinks being bad for you, so is everything if taken to excess. If a glass or two of Coca-Cola is unsuitable for us and our children to consume this Christmas, then, by the same token, lots of other stuff is off the menu too. It includes all sweets, cake, biscuits, chocolate, sugar mice, cheese, mince pies, alcohol, peanuts and much more, not forgetting Christmas pud. In short: a miserable Christmas.

So let’s lighten up, pour ourselves a drink and live dangerously.