Lemon & Paeroa facts for kids

Lemon & Paeroa (L&P)

Lemon & Paeroa on sale in Shanghai
Type	Soft drink
Manufacturer	Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
Country of origin	Paeroa, New Zealand
Introduced	c. 1907
Colour	Pale, light yellow
Variants	Sugar Free, Sour, Dry Ginger Beer, Chilli & Lime (limited edition)

Lemon & Paeroa, often called L&P, is a sweet, lemon-flavored soft drink from New Zealand. It's seen as a special part of New Zealand culture, known as Kiwiana. Long ago, it was made by mixing lemon juice with naturally fizzy mineral water from the town of Paeroa. Today, a big company called Coca-Cola makes it. No one knows the exact year it started, but the company thinks it was around 1907.

In Paeroa, the town where L&P began, there's a huge 7-meter tall L&P bottle statue. It's one of the most photographed places in New Zealand and a true icon.

History of L&P

L&P was first made using natural bubbly water from a spring in Paeroa. This spring was found in a field near the Ohinemuri and Waihou rivers. Before it became a drink, locals often visited the spring to drink its water.

In 1908, Robert Fewell and his brother-in-law, Frank Brinkler, bought the land with the spring. A study of the spring water in 1904 showed it had a pleasant taste and might even have health benefits.

In 1909, Fewell started bottling the spring water to sell. He built a factory that could bottle many drinks each day. His factory burned down in 1912 but was likely rebuilt, as the bottled water continued to be sold. Fewell later moved away in 1914.

In 1915, a company called Grey & Menzies Limited bought the Paeroa Natural Mineral Water Company and the spring property. By November 1915, they were advertising 'Lemon and Paeroa'. In 1916, Grey & Menzies promoted their "new idea" of adding lemon to bottled Paeroa mineral water.

Water from Paeroa was sent in big trucks to a factory in Auckland, where L&P was made. In 1934, the L&P label design was officially protected, but the name "Lemon & Paeroa" itself wasn't, because place names and fruit names are often not trademarkable. L&P started being made in the Paeroa factory in 1934.

In 1960, New Zealand Breweries Ltd bought the company, which was later bought by Schweppes. In the 1960s, the spring's well was made deeper with concrete. In 1969, Lemon & Paeroa won a special award, the British Bottlers' Institute Diploma of Excellence Award. In the late 1970s, Oasis Industries bought Schweppes, and then Coca-Cola bought Oasis Industries in 1989.

The Paeroa factory was made bigger in the 1970s. Around this time, a new pipe allowed the public to drink filtered spring water for free from a hand pump. However, vandals often broke it, so it closed after 18 months. By the 1970s, the water used in L&P was made artificially, not directly from the spring. The Paeroa factory closed in July 1980. L&P production moved to Auckland, and Coca-Cola now makes the drink.

In 1995, someone complained that L&P should change its name to Lemon & Panmure (where the water now comes from) since it no longer used Paeroa spring water. However, the Commerce Commission decided no action was needed.

L&P Bottle Designs

In 1982–1983, L&P started selling bigger two-liter bottles.

The brand got a new look in 2005, with a "retro" (old-fashioned) style label. This new design was advertised before it appeared in stores, so people would recognize it. In 2012, the design was updated again to look more modern and appeal to younger people. This included changing the lid from cream to yellow. The branding changed once more in 2016, with a new logo and bottle shapes to help tell the different L&P flavors apart.

In 2022, Coca-Cola said they might change the plastic bottles from brown to clear. This would make the bottles easier to recycle. Many people, including the Mayor of Hauraki, Toby Adams, felt that the brown bottle is iconic. He believed people would accept the change if they understood it was for recycling.

Summer Cans

In October 2018, some L&P summer cans had a spelling mistake: "Cook Straight" instead of "Cook Strait". After the first batch, the mistake was fixed. L&P decided to sell the cans with the typo instead of throwing them away. Some experts think this might have been a clever marketing trick.

The 2023 summer cans were special because they were the first to include both English and Māori words.

Flavors and Other Products

L&P has introduced different flavors over the years. A sugar-free version came out in 2005, dry ginger beer in 2009, and sour in 2013. In October 2016, L&P launched a limited edition Chilli & Lime flavor with a Mexican theme. The company joked it was "Like getting kicked by a baby donkey."

L&P has also teamed up with other companies to create unique foods. These include a Whittaker's chocolate in 2013, Griffin's L&P biscuits around 2017, L&P Fruju ice blocks in 2017, and a Pineapple lumps-flavored drink in 2020.

In 2019, L&P made a special set of ten 70-cm tall bottles. One of these sold online for over $1,000!

L&P Attractions

Big Lemon & Paeroa Bottle

There is a 6.8-meter tall L&P bottle in Paeroa. It's one of New Zealand's most famous symbols and a very popular spot for photos. It started in 1967 as a temporary rocket for Christmas. The next year, parts of the rocket were used to make the L&P bottle for Christmas. It was taken down because it caused traffic problems. In 1969, it was rebuilt permanently further from the town center.

In 2002, it was moved 20 meters away to the Ohinemuri Reserve because too many photographers were stopping traffic. The move took 40 minutes, and about 100 people watched. A park has since been built around the statue.

In 2013, when L&P partnered with Whittaker's for a chocolate, a Whittaker's van was placed next to the statue to look like it had crashed. The local council chief asked Whittaker's to pay for the "damage," even though the mayor and council knew it was a marketing stunt.

Lemon & Paeroa Café

The L&P brand team opened a café on December 16, 2000. It sells food with L&P flavors, like L&P ice cream, eggs benedict with L&P hollandaise sauce, L&P pork ribs, and L&P chicken salad. Outside the café, there's a 5.8-meter tall L&P bottle. This is a different, smaller bottle than the 6.8-meter one in the Ohinemuri Reserve. The café also has a souvenir shop. The café was updated in 2015 and was put up for sale in 2018 and 2020.

L&P Marketing and Ads

An instrumental song for an L&P advertisement won an award in 1978. In 1987, a music video for L&P was made by famous musicians called "80 in the Shade." It was filmed in an L&P factory and was named the country's best commercial in 1988.

A long-running TV ad from the 1990s used the song "Counting the Beat" and the slogan "World famous in New Zealand." It showed different places around Paeroa, including the L&P statue. In the early 2000s, an ad campaign encouraged people to only drink L&P. Sales grew by 30% during this campaign.

When the brand was redesigned in 2005, a big advertising campaign started. The slogan changed to "World famous in New Zealand since ages ago." The ads made fun of funny things from the 1970s and 1980s, like old fashion styles.

In 2014, L&P created "3D pop-out billboards" in big cities. These billboards had free gifts like sandals and towels that people could take. In 2015, a Snapchat campaign called the "Trickshot Challenge" encouraged people to buy special cans and share trickshot videos using them.

L&P also launched a "Backyard Cricket" campaign, showing friends and family playing cricket with unusual items. The goal was to connect L&P with popular New Zealand activities. A similar campaign in 2017 called "On the lamb" showed sheep drinking L&P and doing fun things in small New Zealand towns.

In 2019, an L&P ad with zombies in a ruined city received many complaints for being "frightening" and "disgusting." The Advertising Standards Authority didn't ban it, but the ad was later moved to play after 7 pm.

In 2021, L&P launched a "Space Manu" campaign, showing a man in a space suit doing a cannonball dive (called a "manu" in New Zealand) into a pool. In 2023, L&P created "Manu Applied Sciences Aotearoa" (MASA), with a logo similar to NASA's. They even made an L&P swimsuit for doing the manu.

"World Famous in New Zealand" Slogan

The slogan "World Famous in New Zealand" was created in 1993 for L&P. The people who made the ad said it was special because it celebrated unique New Zealand things instead of trying to copy overseas trends. The ads would playfully joke about Paeroa, saying it wasn't famous for things like surf or Hollywood mansions. Then, it would show people in front of the L&P bottle statue and say, "But, it is famous!" This ad ran for over ten years and became a classic. Now, the phrase is used in everyday talk to describe anything loved by locals.

In 2005, the slogan was temporarily changed to "World famous in New Zealand since ages ago."

The slogan was officially protected in 2004. Starting in 2007, a man named Tony Coombe tried to stop Coca-Cola from keeping the trademark. He felt the phrase was a common "Kiwi-ism" that belonged to all New Zealanders. He argued that other products had used the name, and people often used the phrase without thinking of L&P. However, the High Court did not agree with him. In 2009, an assistant commissioner of trademarks decided in favor of Coca-Cola.

See also

In Spanish: Lemon & Paeroa para niños

• List of lemon dishes and beverages
• Lemon & Te Aroha