7 Up is a brand of 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 in the
rest of the world. Creative marketing during prohibition moved
the product to underground speakeasies. Like other products such
as ginger ale and tonic, 7 UP quickly became a popular mixer for
alcoholic drinks. After prohibition was repealed, it was still
marketed as a mixer. By the late 1940s, 7 UP had become the
third best-selling soft drink in the world.
Westinghouse bought 7
Up in 1969 and sold it in 1978 to Philip Morris, which then
during 1986 sold it to a group led by Hicks & Haas. 7 Up
merged with Dr Pepper in 1988. Cadbury Schweppes bought the
combined company in 1995. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group was spun
off from Cadbury Schweppes in 2008.
7 Up was created by
Charles Grigg, who came up with the formula for a lemon-lime
soft drink in 1929. The product, originally named "Bib-Label
Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" contained lithium citrate, a
mood-stabilizing drug. "Bib-label" referred to the use of paper
labels that were placed on the plain bottles.
The US Food and Drug
Administration banned the use of lithium in beer and soft drinks
in 1948, and 7-Up was reformulated two years later. Its name was
later shortened to "7 Up Lithiated Lemon Soda" before being
further shortened to just "7 Up" during 1936.
The actual origin of
the 7Up name is unclear, as is the origin or meaning of the red
dot. It contains no sugar, preservatives, caffeine or coloring.