Fresca facts for kids
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| Type | Soft drink |
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| Manufacturer | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1966 |
| Flavor | Grapefruit Citrus, Black Cherry Citrus, Peach Citrus and Blackberry Citrus |
| Variants | Fresca 1 |
Fresca is a sparkling soft drink with a grapefruit flavor. It was created by The Coca-Cola Company. The name Fresca means "fresh" in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. This popular drink was first introduced in the United States in 1966.
When it first came out, Fresca was a sugar-free diet soda. Later, some versions with sugar were sold in certain places. Today, Fresca is known as "Fresca Sparkling Soda Water." It comes in four main flavors: Grapefruit Citrus, Black Cherry Citrus, Peach Citrus, and Blackberry Citrus. It's advertised as a sparkling drink with no sugar and no calories. In the U.S., you can find Fresca in plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
Contents
The Story of Fresca
How Fresca Started
The Coca-Cola Company first thought of the name "Fresca" in 1962. They wanted to use it for frozen orange and tangerine juices. Later that same year, they also applied to use "Fresca" for soft drinks.
The company described the first Fresca drink as a "citrus-based, sugar free product." They said it was a soft drink, a low-calorie drink, and a mixer all in one. The name "Fresca" was chosen because it is "short, memorable and distinctive."
Fresca was the second low-calorie drink from Coca-Cola. Their first was Tab, a diet cola, which came out in 1963. Fresca mainly competes with Squirt, another citrus-flavored soda.
Early Testing
Coca-Cola started testing Fresca in a few places in 1964. By 1965, they tested it in more cities like Providence, Rhode Island, and Seattle-Tacoma, Washington. It was also advertised in Michigan and Ohio.
Fresca's Big Launch
Fresca was launched across the United States and in other countries in 1966. Since then, it has been sold as a sugar-free, citrus-flavored diet soft drink. In 1966, the president of Coca-Cola, J. Paul Austin, said Fresca would help the company grow even more.
Newspapers and Coca-Cola's own websites talked about Fresca's wide release in 1966. By 1967, sales of Fresca grew very quickly. One company even thought Fresca could become the third most popular soft drink in the U.S. that year.
In 1968, Fresca was introduced in Australia. There, it was called "Tresca" and was strongly marketed as a diet drink. By 1969, Fresca had the biggest share of the market among all artificially sweetened soft drinks in America.
Original Bottle Design
Fresca was first sold in 10-ounce glass bottles. These bottles were designed by a company called Hodgman-Bourke. The green glass bottle had a special groove to catch water drops. Small bumps on the bottom half of the bottle looked like bubbles from the soda.
Fresca's First Ads
The "Blizzard of Flavor" Campaign
The first advertising campaign for Fresca was called "Blizzard of Flavor." It was created by F. William Free. He had also helped launch Sprite and Tab for Coca-Cola.
The main idea of the campaign was that Fresca had a "blizzard" of "frosty taste." Ads said the soda was "cool, crisp, frosty and refreshing." One ad headline in 1966 read, "Here. The frosty taste of Fresca. It's a blizzard." This ad used many words to describe Fresca's "blizzard taste."
Newspaper Ads
The "Blizzard" campaign included a big newspaper advertising program in 1967. It cost over a million dollars. This campaign had three parts. The first part helped local bottlers introduce Fresca. The second part showed how to use Fresca with snacks and drinks. The third part, called "Blizzard Girls," showed models in fur-trimmed parkas drinking Fresca in the snow. They were pictured with a zebra, a small car, a scooter, and a Saint Bernard dog. This campaign made many people aware of the new drink.
Musical Theme Song
The marketing campaign also had a theme song called "The Blizzard Song." It was written by Gary McFarland. Two famous musicians, Mitch Miller and Trini Lopez, recorded versions of the song. Both versions were used in TV ads for Fresca. They were also released as small records.
The Mitch Miller record encouraged people to collect Fresca bottle caps to get a free copy of the record. The Trini Lopez record was given away for free with packs of Fresca bottles.
New York City Launch Event
On February 7, 1967, a special launch event was held in New York City. The fountain in the restaurant was frozen. Six women, dressed as giant Fresca bottles, skated and danced. The Mitch Miller Orchestra played music, including the "Blizzard Theme."
The day after the event, New York City had a huge snowstorm. F. William Free used this unexpected snow for more advertising. He was photographed holding a Fresca bottle in the snow. This picture appeared in full-page newspaper ads with the headline "New York – We're Sorry."
Famous Fresca Fans
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson really liked Fresca. He often pressed a special "Fresca button" to order a bottle of the drink.
TV host Andy Cohen often drinks a "Frequila" on his show. This drink is a mix of Fresca and tequila.
Fresca is also shown a lot in the superhero TV series The Boys. In the show, it's the favorite drink of a group called the Church of the Collective. Fans wondered if it had a secret meaning. But the show's writers later said it was just a funny running joke.
Changes to Fresca's Recipe
Fresca has changed its ingredients and recipe several times since it was first made. It was first sweetened with cyclamates. But these were banned in 1969. Then, saccharin was used, and later, NutraSweet-brand aspartame was added.
In 1980, Coca-Cola made Fresca even better. They also gave it new packaging and ads. Around 2005, another sweetener called acesulfame potassium was added.
Coca-Cola also sold a sugar-sweetened Fresca in Latin America. In 1997, they brought this version to the U.S. for people who had moved from those countries. It was called Citra. Now, it's often sold as the Citrus flavor in Coca-Cola's Fanta line. In some countries like Colombia and Argentina, sweetened Fresca is called Quatro.
Fresca was also available in South Africa in the early 1990s. It had ads with the slogan "Nothing tastes like Fresca." Even though it had many fans, sales were stopped.
Packaging Updates
Fresca's packaging has been updated many times. In 2005, Fresca got a new, modern look. This was its first big change since 1995. With this redesign, two new flavors were added: Sparkling Peach Citrus and Sparkling Black Cherry Citrus. The original grapefruit flavor was renamed Sparkling Citrus. Later, "Sparkling" was removed, and the original flavor became Original Citrus. Other flavors were added after 2005, but they were later removed.
In 2018, Coca-Cola announced new packaging again. They also started a new advertising campaign for younger adults. This was the first Fresca ad campaign since 2008. The goal was to attract a new generation of drinkers. The ads called Fresca a "sparkling flavored soda." It was meant to compete with other sparkling drinks like La Croix.
Today, Fresca is called "Fresca Sparkling Soda Water." It has four flavors: Grapefruit Citrus, Black Cherry Citrus, Peach Citrus, and Blackberry Citrus. It is described as "The original no sugar, no calorie sparkling beverage." In the U.S., you can buy Fresca in plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
What's in Fresca Original Grapefruit Citrus?
Here are some of the main ingredients in Fresca Original Grapefruit Citrus in the United States and Canada:
- Carbonated water
- Citric acid
- Concentrated grapefruit juice
- Potassium citrate
- Aspartame (a sweetener)
- Potassium sorbate
- Acacia gum
- Acesulfame potassium (another sweetener)
- Natural flavors
- Glycerol ester of wood rosin
- Potassium benzoate
- Calcium Disodium EDTA
- Carob bean gum
See also
In Spanish: Fresca para niños
- Grapefruit–drug interactions
