Type | Soft drink |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Introduced | 1952 |
Flavor | chocolate, black cherry, ginger ale, root beer |
No-Cal was the first diet soda. [1] It was initially marketed to diabetics in a number of flavors, the most popular being black cherry.
Hyman Kirsch and his son Morris, both Russian immigrants living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, began selling sodas in 1904. [2] Their involvement with the Jewish Sanitarium for Chronic Disease (now known as Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center), led them to the invention of a sugar-free drink to meet the needs of the hospital's diabetic patients. [3]
Kirsch Beverages developed a line of zero-calorie soft drinks that they called No-Cal, which they began selling in 1952. [1] The soda was produced at the company's plant in College Point, Queens, New York. [4]
Initially it came only in ginger ale, sweetened with sodium cyclamate. Later, root beer and black cherry were added, the latter becoming the flagship flavor. Eventually they added Lemon, cola, coffee, and chocolate sodas.
Eventually, the company started marketing the soda to "weight-conscious" housewives. It thus took off in popularity, until the company was worth millions.
Ray Distributors, owned and operated by Arthur Raphael, was the sole distributor of No-Cal soda on Long Islang from the early 1950s till his death in 1967. Mr. Raphael, a salesman for Kirsch before Hyman and Morris Kirsch gave him the opportunity to bring No-Cal to Nassau and Suffolk counties, was also instrumental in introducing No-Cal as a fountain drink.
No-Cal used up-and-coming Hollywood starlets, such as Kim Novak and Julie Adams, in its print ads. [4] Cartoonist Stan Goldberg did the advertising art for a billboard in Times Square. [5] Actor Jack Gilford was the No-Cal Genie in television and print ads.
As major soda producers such as The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo launched their own diet brands in the 1960s, No-Cal found it hard to compete. This, coupled with the Food and Drug Administration's ban of cyclamate sweeteners from all U.S. food and drug products in October 1970, [6] caused No-Cal to lose market share and slowly disappear.
7 Up or Seven Up is an American brand of lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo except the UK where it is distributed by Britvic, PepsiCo's designated UK distributor.
Diet Coke is a sugar-free and low-calorie soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Unveiled on July 8, 1982, and introduced in the United States one month later, it was the first new brand since Coca-Cola's creation in 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark. The product quickly overtook the company's existing diet cola, Tab, in sales.
Barq's is a brand of root beer created by Edward Barq and bottled since the beginning of the 20th century. It is owned by the Coca-Cola Company. It was known as "Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer" until 2012. Some of its formulations contain caffeine.
Diet sodas are soft drinks which contain little or no sugar or calories. First introduced onto the market in 1949, diet sodas are typically marketed for those with diabetes or who wish to reduce their sugar or caloric intake.
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Tab was a diet cola soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company, introduced in 1963 and discontinued in 2020. The company's first diet drink, Tab was popular among some people throughout the 1960s and 1970s as an alternative to Coca-Cola. Several variations were made, including a number of fruit-flavored, root beer, and ginger ale versions. Caffeine-free and clear variations were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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Polar Beverages is a soft drink company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a manufacturer and distributor of sparkling fruit beverages, seltzer, ginger ale, drink mixers, and spring water to customers in the United States. It is the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the United States.
The PoP Shoppe is a soft drink retailer originating in 1969 at London, Ontario, by Gary Shaw in Canada. The PoP Shoppe avoided using traditional retail channels, selling its pop through franchised outlets and its own stores in refillable bottles in 24-cartons.
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Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. Dr. Pepper was created in the 1880s by the American pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper in the United States and Canada, by The Coca-Cola Company in the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea, and by PepsiCo in Europe. Variants include Diet Dr Pepper and, beginning in the 2000s, a line of additional flavors.
Patio Diet Cola was a brand of diet soda introduced by PepsiCo in 1963. It was created in response to Diet Rite Cola. Fitness promoter Debbie Drake was Patio Diet Cola's spokesperson; the drink was also marketed as a soda alternative for diabetics.
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