7 Up
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| 7 Up | |
|---|---|
| Type | Lemon-lime soda |
| Manufacturer | Dr Pepper Snapple Group (U.S.), PepsiCo (elsewhere) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1929 (as Lithiated Lemon) |
| Variants | dnL, 7 Up Plus |
| Related products | Dr Pepper, Sprite, Sierra Mist |
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo (or its licensees) in the rest of the world. The 7 Up logo includes a red spot between the '7' and 'Up', this red spot has been animated and used as a mascot for the brand. The red spot was featured in a video game spinoff called Cool Spot.
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[edit] Name origin
The origin of 7 Up's name is unclear. One popular myth is that its creator named the soft drink after seeing a cattle brand with the number 7 and the letter U.[1] Other theories suggest that the drink was formulated with seven flavors plus the bubbles from the drink's carbonation (the bubbles go up). Other ideas include the original bottle contained seven ounces; its creator came up with the name while playing dice; that it was the 7th large commercial lemonade brand that tasted the same. Another rumor has it that the name was created because the company had previously failed six times, hence the name "7 Up".[1] Before the formula change in 2006, a can of 7 Up included seven ingredients. The "Up" in the drink's name might refer to the original inclusion of lithium citrate, when it was marketed as a patent medicine to cure hangovers.
Some people mistakenly believe that the name 7 Up comes from the belief that its pH is 7.0 and therefore neutral. This is not the case at all: the pH of 7 Up is comparable to many other soft drinks. At a pH of 3.67,[2] Diet 7 Up is less acidic than lemon juice (pH 2.3), vinegar (pH 2.9) or wine (pH 3.5).[3]
Another possibility is that the drink is named after the card game Seven Up. [4]
One myth regarding the red spot between 7 and Up is that the inventor of the drink was an albino with red eyes, and that the red spot represents his eye and the clear color represents his skin.
[edit] History
7 Up was created by Charles Leiper Grigg who launched his St. Louis-based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920.[1] Grigg came up with the formula for a lemon-lime soft drink in 1929. The product, originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda", was launched two weeks before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[1] It contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. It was one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries; they made claims similar to today's health foods. Specifically it was marketed as a hangover cure. The product's name was soon changed to 7 Up.[1]
The Great Depression was just the beginning of the business challenges the product would face. In its early years, there were around 600 lemon-lime beverage brands being sold in the US.[1] 7 Up was able to survive and become the market leader in the category by being one of the first to be nationally distributed as well as being marketed as more healthy than other soft drinks.[citation needed]
The success of 7 Up led Grigg to rename his company to "The Seven Up Company" in 1936.[1]
Lithium citrate was removed from 7 Up's formula in 1950.
Expanding the brand beyond a niche market, major competitors began to set their sights on it such as The Coca-Cola Company (Coke) with its Sprite brand introduced in 1961. Sprite would not challenge 7 Up's position seriously until the 1980s when Coke forced its major bottlers, then distributing 7 Up, to drop the beverage in deference to Sprite. 7 Up challenged Coke's actions in court as "anti-competitive", a challenge they eventually lost.[5]
[edit] Formula
7 Up has been reformulated several times since its launch in 1929. In 2006, the version of the product sold in the U.S. was re-formulated so that it could be marketed as being "100% Natural". This was achieved by eliminating the preservative calcium disodium EDTA, and replacing sodium citrate with potassium citrate in order to reduce the beverage's sodium content. [6] This re-formulation contains no fruit juice and is still sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The manufacturing process used in the production of HFCS has led some public health and special interest groups to challenge the ad campaign's "natural" claims.[7] In 2007, after the Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened to sue 7 Up, it was announced that 7 Up would stop being marketed as "100% natural". Instead, It is now promoted as having "100% Natural Flavors". The controversy does not extend to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, where high fructose corn syrup is not generally used in foods, including 7 Up.
[edit] Variations
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[edit] Cherry 7 Up
Cherry 7 Up flavor, with these ingredients listed: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, and 2% or less of each of the following: citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, potassium benzoate (preservative), red 40. One known ingredient that falls under the labels natural and artificial flavors is apple juice.
[edit] Pomegranate 7 Up
This flavor, introduced in 2007 for the Christmas season, is a pomegranate-flavored version. Ingredients listed: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, and 2% or less of each of the following: citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, potassium benzoate (preservative), red 40 blue 1.
[edit] Diet Cherry 7 Up
Diet Cherry 7 Up has recently been re-introduced due to popular demand after having been missing due to the existence of 7 Up Plus Cherry flavor.[8] Ingredients are as follows: Filtered carbonated water and contains 2% or less of each of the following: citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, potassium benzoate (protects flavor), aspartame, potassium citrate, acesulfame potassium, red 40. Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine.[9]
[edit] Diet 7 Up
Diet 7 Up has also been reformulated recently where it was packaged and advertised as now made with Splenda sweetener (sucralose) but now the formula has been re-tooled and they are using the following Ingredients: Filtered carbonated water and contains 2% or less of each of the following: natural flavors, citric acid, potassium citrate, potassium benzoate (protects flavor), aspartame, acesulfame potassium, calcium disodium EDTA (protects flavor). Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine.[10] They also do still list the ingredients for Diet 7 Up with Splenda as the following Ingredients: Filtered carbonated water and contains 2% or less of each of the following: natural flavors, citric acid, potassium citrate, potassium benzoate (protects flavor), calcium disodium EDTA (protects flavor), acesulfame potassium, sucralose.[11] The 7 Up company claims they switched back to aspartame because they conducted a nation-wide study showing that people preferred the 'aspartame taste' over the taste of Splenda-brand Sweetener. 7 Up Plus is still sweetened with Splenda, and they announce no intention of switching it to aspartame.
[edit] 7 Up Plus
7 Up Plus is a family of fruit-flavored soft drinks, part of the 7 Up family of beverages, and produced by Cadbury-Schweppes. Touted as a healthy alternative, it contains no caffeine and has only 2 carbs per serving, as well as 5% apple juice, which is uncommon among American market carbonated beverages. It is sweetened with Splenda, and the original flavor, Mixed Berry, was released in summer 2004. Two additional flavors have been added to the line, Cherry and Island Fruit. In Ireland in 2007, 7 Up launched a range of flavored water.
[edit] 7 Up Gold
7 Up Gold was marketed for a short time in 1988 as a spice-flavored beverage, something like a Ginger Ale.[12] Even though 7 Up's marketing slogan was "Never had it, never will" (referring to caffeine) 7 Up Gold did list caffeine as one of its ingredients. The 7 Up Gold recipe was actually an unused Dr Pepper invention.[13]
[edit] 7 Up Free
7 Up Free is sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Argentina and Iceland.[14] It contains no caffeine, sugar, colorings or preservatives and is marketed as "Natural Lemon and Lime flavour" similar to the "100% natural" American version. It contains a combination of artificial sugars, and on the Norwegian market it is the only variety available. The lack of the usual light-label is confusing to Norwegian consumers, who often buy it not knowing they are buying a product with artificial sugars.[citation needed]
[edit] dnL
dnL was the name of a soft drink produced by Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages in the United States. It was part of the 7 Up family of soft drinks, and was introduced in September 2002. It was launched in the same year as other attempts to extend soft drink brand names with new iterations, including Pepsi Blue, Dr Pepper Red Fusion and Vanilla Coke. It had arguably been poorly marketed, and, while it remained listed as an official product of the company in late 2005, it was scheduled to be discontinued for 2006 in favor of the "7 Up Plus" brand.[15]
The product's name came from the fact that the "dnL" logo is the "7 Up" logo turned upside-down. The product itself was also, in many ways, the polar opposite of 7 Up: while 7 Up is caffeine-free, colorless, and comes in a green bottle, dnL contained caffeine and was an unusual shade of green (vaguely similar to the green of 7 Up's bottle) in a clear bottle. And while 7 Up has a fairly standard lemon-lime flavor, the "citrus" flavor of dnL is harder to identify.
[edit] Barbecue sauces and marinades
In 2007, Cadbury Schweppes entered into a licensing partnership with Vita Food Products to produce a line of barbecue sauces and marinades flavored with Dr Pepper, 7 Up and A&W Root Beer.[16]
[edit] Slogans and advertising campaigns
- The Fresh Up Family Drink (1952)
- The (Diet) Uncola. (1960s-1990s)
- Crisp refreshing 7 Up (1960s-1970s)
- It's 7 Up, it's Uncola (1975)
- Feelin' 7 Up (1980)
- Canada's turning 7 Up (1980) Canada
- The feeling of Christmas. (December 1980s)
- Put some Un in your life (diet). (early 1990s)
- On the spot. (early 1990s)
- Now that's refreshing. (1990s)
- It's an up thing. (1995)
- Make 7 Up Yours. (1999)
- Are you an Un? (Late 1990s-Early 2000s)
- Seven flavors in one drink. (2008)
- "Bheja fry .. 7 Up try" (2008)
- "It's way more better than cola, it's 7 Up(Secondary Slogan used with Richard Karn to promote summer 7 Up commercials)
In conjunction with the 1999 marketing slogan "Make 7 Up Yours," 7 Up distributed shirts that said "Make Seven" on the front and "Up Yours" on the back. Television and radio ads featured Orlando Jones walking down a street talking about 7 Up with people seemingly angry or shocked by the risqué phrase "up yours." The ads and slogan quickly became popular, and the campaign lasted until 2005.[citation needed]
The television cartoon character Fido Dido was used as a mascot from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, and was re-introduced in international markets in the early 2000s[17].
[edit] Listen
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g "7 UP: The Making of a Legend". Cadbury Schweppes: America's Beverages.
- ^ "Drinks That Eat Teeth." 21st century Dental.
- ^ "pH Scale: Some Common Solutions". MSN Encarta.
- ^ "[1]". Dictionary of Trade Name Origins By Adrian Room.
- ^ Seven-Up Co. v. Coca-Cola Co. No. 95-10048. United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions." 7up.com.
- ^ Center for Science in the Public Interest (May 11, 2006). CSPI to sue Cadbury Schweppes over "All Natural" 7 Up. Press release.
- ^ "The Slug.com." The Slug: Rejoice! Diet Cherry 7 Up to Return to Us!.
- ^ "Diet Cherry 7 Up Nutritional Facts". 7up.com.
- ^ "Diet 7 Up Nutritional Facts". 7up.com.
- ^ "Diet 7 Up with Splenda Nutritional Facts". 7up.com.
- ^ "http://www.rateitall.com/i-34416-7up-gold.aspx"
- ^ "7-UP GOLD: THE FAILURE OF A CAN'T-LOSE PLAN". New York Times.
- ^ "http://www.egils.is/is/vorur/gos/7up%5Ffree/"
- ^ BevNET.com - DNP for 7 Up's dnL
- ^ [2] "Vita Foods and Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages Get Cooking With the Introduction..." Press release
- ^ "Fido Dido returns as face of 7 Up" at B&T,
[edit] External links
- Official U.S. web site
- 7 Up (undetermined source of product name)
- 7 Up Numbers Puzzle
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