7 Up

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

7 Up
Type	100% Natural Lemon-Lime Soft Drink
Manufacturer	Cadburys
Country of Origin	United States
Introduced	1929
Variants	dnL, 7 Up Plus
Related products	Dr Pepper, Sprite

7 Up (or Seven Up) is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages in the United States, and by PepsiCo in the rest of the world (sublicensed to Britvic in Great Britain and C&C in Ireland).

Contents 1 Formula 2 Name origin 3 History 4 Variations 5 Listen 6 Cultural references 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Formula

7 Up has been reformulated several times since its launch in 1929; in 2006, the U.S. version underwent another reformulation, becoming "100% Natural" with five ingredients: "filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, natural citric acid, natural flavors, natural potassium citrate".^[1] However, classifying this product as "100% Natural" is problematic as high fructose corn syrup is an unnatural, manufactured chemical. It should also be noted that this is not the case in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, where high fructose corn syrup is not generally used in foods, including 7UP. In 2007, after the CSPI threatened to sue 7 Up, it was announced that 7 Up would stop being marketed as "100% Natural". It is now marketed instead as having "100% Natural Flavors".

7 Up is also available in 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.

[edit] Name origin

The origin of the 7 Up name is unclear. One popular story is that its creator named the soft drink after seeing a cattle brand with the number 7 and the letter u.^[2] Other theories suggest that the name reflects the seven syllables in the drink's original name (Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime) or that the drink was formulated with seven flavors plus the carbonation (the bubbles go "up"). Other ideas include that the original bottle contained seven ounces, or that its creator came up with the name while playing dice, or that even it was the 7th large commercial lemonade brand that tasted the same. There is also the rumor that the name was created because the company had previously failed six times, hence the name "7-up".^[2] Before the formula change in 2006, looking on a can of 7up included 7 ingredients. The "Up" in the drink's name might refer to the original inclusion of Lithium, a mood stabiliser.

Some people mistakenly believe that the name 7 Up comes from the fact that its pH is 7.0 and therefore neutral. This is not the case: the pH of 7 Up is comparable to many other soft drinks. At a pH of 3.67,^[3] Diet 7 Up is less acidic than lemon juice (pH 2.3), vinegar (pH 2.9) or wine (pH 3.5)^[4].

[edit] History

7 Up was created by Charles Leiper Grigg who launched his St. Louis-based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920.^[2] 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.^[2] The product's name was soon changed to 7 Up.^[2]

7 Up, as its first name suggests, originally 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.

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.^[2] 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.^[2]

Lithium citrate was removed from 7 Up's formula in 1950.

After establishing the category as more than a niche, major competitors set their sights on it such as The Coca-Cola Company 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]

Philip Morris acquired The Seven Up Company in June 1978.^[2] Philip Morris sold the brand's U.S. operations in 1986 to a private investment group, which merged with Dr Pepper Company and established Dallas, Texas as the headquarters of the combined company.^[2]

7 Up became dependent on Pepsi's bottlers for distribution during the 1990s, until PepsiCo launched its own serious entrant in the category with Sierra Mist in 2000. PepsiCo then adopted the previous Coca-Cola tactic and forced its bottlers to give up 7 Up for Sierra Mist, which most did by 2003.^{[citation needed]}

The result is that in the United States, DPSU does not have a network of bottlers and distributors, so some of their products are frequently bottled under contract by independent Coca-Cola or Pepsi bottlers, though in some areas independent distributors exist, either by Cadbury-Schweppes, or by individual independent bottling plants such as Vineland Syrup of Vineland, New Jersey[1] and Polar Beverages of Worcester, Massachusetts. These bottlers often do not distribute their products much beyond major supermarket chains, so 7 Up can be difficult to find in smaller stores and vending machines.

In an effort to align their brands and build a better "route to market", in 2006 Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverage acquired most of the independent 7 Up bottlers in the U.S and created the Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group.

In 1998, in the first formula change since lithium's removal, 7 Up was flavor-enhanced, without changing the sugar content or carbonation level.

In 2006 the product was re-formulated so that it could be marketed as being "100% Natural" in the United States. This was achieved by eliminating the preservative calcium disodium EDTA, and replacing sodium citrate with potassium citrate 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 to produce HFCS has led some public health and special interest groups to challenge the ad campaign's "natural" claims.^[7] In Ireland however, it remains the only carbonated soft drink that is 100% natural (there is no HFCS used in the manufacturing process). This has led it to becoming one of the top five grocery brands across all grocery categories. see http://www.checkout.ie/Top100.asp

[edit] Variations

7 Up Plus is a family of fruit-flavoured soda pops, 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.

[edit] Listen

• 1963 Radio Commercial

[edit] Cultural references

• From the 1960s to the 1990s, 7 Up was billed as "the un-Cola", particularly in a series of ads featuring actor/choreographer Geoffrey Holder, for example, holding a kola nut in one hand and an "un-Cola nut" (a lemon or lime) in the other.
• When The Seven-Ups (1973) was filmed, all of the actors posed in front of a 7-Up delivery truck as part of a publicity stunt for advertising the film.
• 7 Up products appeared in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979).
• A 7 Up commercial which ran from about 1971 to 1972 may have been the first manifestation of a revival of the 1950s youth culture. It featured a leather-jacketed "greaser" who said "Hey remember me? I'm a teenager."
• In 1983, as part of publicity for 7 Up in Mexico, the jingle on the spot was Kim Carnes' hit "Bette Davis Eyes" with the phrase "Alrededor del Mundo Seven Up" ("Around the World Seven Up") and the Pac-Man video game.
• In the same year, it was exhibited in Chile, with the slogan "Seven Up, cristalina y refrescante" ("Seven Up, crystalline and refreshing"), with voice in off by Antonio Vodanovic, host of the famous, Song's International Festival of Viña del Mar.
• The red spot for 7 Up has been an interim mascot for 7 Up. He had a video game spin-off called Cool Spot.
• DJ Quik raps "I need a 7 Up because my head is spinnin' / round and round, I think I better sit down" in his most famous hit "Tonite" ("Quik Is The Name", 1991).
• In the late 1990s, 7-Up adopted the slogan "Make 7-Up Yours." They made shirts that say "Make Seven" on the front and "Up Yours" on the back. The ads were usually accompanied by Orlando Jones walking down a street talking about or vocally advertising 7-Up with people looking shocked behind him at the word "up yours". The ads and slogan quickly became popular, but the campaign was still fairly short-lived.
• There was a game popular with elementary school kids in the 60s-80s called "Seven Up" (though commonly called other names as well), though it had little to do with the drink.
• In the Snoop Dogg song "Chronic Break" from his debut album Doggystyle, he says, "I treat a bitch like 7 Up, I never have I never will." This is a reference to an old slogan of 7 Up, where they asserted that the drink has never and will never contain caffeine.
• 7 Up also sold "un-Cola" drinking glasses, which inverted the shape of the Coca-Cola glass.
• 7 Up made Fido Dido famous outside the USA
• 7 Up is still sold in glass bottles in countries such as India.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Brands of Lemon-lime soft drinks	v • d • e
7 Up - Celeste Mountain Citrus - Fanta - Foxon Park- Fruktsoda - Limca - Mountain Dew - Mountain Holler - Ramune - Schin Limão - Sierra Mist - Slice - Sprite - Storm - Surge - Teem - Upper 10 - Vess-Up

• Cool Spot
• Vess

[edit] External links

• Official web site
• 7Up (undetermined source of product name)
• 7Up Numbers Puzzle