Sprite

Sprite is a clear, lemon and lime-flavored soft drink created by the Coca-Cola Company. Sprite comes in multiple flavors, including cranberry, cherry, grape, orange, tropical, ginger, and vanilla. Ice, peach, Berryclear remix, and newer versions of the drinks are artificially sweetened. Sprite was created to compete primarily against 7 Up.

The Sprite_brand name was created by T. C. “Bud” Evans, a Houston-based bottler who also distributed Coca-Cola products, circa 1955 for a line of drinks with flavors such as strawberry and orange; the rights to the name were acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 1960.

The lemon-lime drink known today as Sprite was developed in West Germany in 1959 as Fanta Klare Zitrone (“Fanta Clear Lemon” in English) and was introduced in the United States under the Sprite name in 1961 as a competitor to 7 Up.

Sprite advertisements often make use of the portmanteau word “lymon”, a combination of the words “lemon” and “lime”. Additionally, the bottle of the beverage has several concave spots, an attempt to emulate the bubbles caused by the soda’s carbonation.

By the 1980s, Sprite had developed a large following among teenagers. In response, Sprite began to cater to this demographic in their advertisements in 1987. “I Like the Sprite In You” was the brand’s first long-running slogan, and many jingles were produced around it before its discontinuation in 1994.

In 1993, marketing agency Lowe and Partners created a new slogan, “Control your thirst” with commission from the Coca-Cola Company. The new, more vibrant logo stood out more on packaging and featured a blue-to-green gradient with silver “splashes” and subtle white “bubbles” in the background. The product name, “Sprite” had a logo with a blue backdrop shadow. The words; “Great Lymon Taste!” which had been present on the previous logo, were removed. This logo was used in the United States until 2006, and similar variants were used in other countries until this year as well.

The brand’s slogan was changed to “Obey Your Thirst”, and jingles containing it became urban-oriented, featuring a hip-hop theme. One of the first lyrics for the new slogan was, “never forget yourself ’cause first things first, grab a cold, cold can, and obey your thirst.” Under the new slogan, Sprite_tapped into hip-hop culture by leveraging up and coming, as well as underground rap artists including; LL Cool J, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Missy Elliott, Grand Puba, Common, Fat Joe, Nas and others in television commercials. Sprite expanded its urban connections in the late 1990s by featuring both amateur and accomplished basketball players in their advertisements. Famous NBA players and hip-hop artists such as LeBron James, Trae Young, Vince Staples, and Lil Yachty appeared in Sprite_ads.

In 1998, one commercial poked fun at products that featured cartoon mascots in the style of a horror film. In it, the mascot for a fictitious orange juice drink called “Sun Fizz” comes to life, terrifying the children and mother, and starts to chase them.

In the 1990s, one of the brand’s longest-running ad campaigns was “Grant Hill Drinks Sprite” (overlapping its “Obey Your Thirst” campaign), in which the well-liked basketball player’s abilities, and Sprite’s importance in giving him his abilities, were humorously exaggerated.

In 2000, the Brand commissioned graffiti artist Temper to design limited edition art, which appeared on 100 million cans across Europe.

In 2004, Coke created Miles Thirst, a vinyl doll voiced by Reno Wilson, used in advertising to exploit the hip-hop market for soft drinks.

In 2006, a new brand’s logo, consisting of two yellow and green “halves” forming an “S” lemon/lime design, made its debut on Sprite bottles and cans. The slogan was changed from its long-running “Obey Your Thirst” to just “Obey” in the United States and was outright replaced with “Freedom From Thirst” in many countries. This was the decade’s first major shift in advertising themes.

The “Sublymonal” campaign was also used as part of the alternate reality game the Lost Experience. This also resurrected the “lymon” word.

The brand redesigned its label in 2009, removing the “S” logo.

In July 2022, the Coca-Cola Company announced that the brand will discontinue its green bottles on August 1 and switch to clear plastic bottles. The green plastic contains green polyethylene terephthalate (PET), an additive that cannot be recycled into new bottles.

In 2022, Australia released lemon flavoured variants Sprite_Lemon+ and Sprite_Lemon+ Zero Sugar.

Sprite Variations

Name	Launched	Notes
Sprite	1961	The original variety.
Sprite_Zero Sugar	1974	Sprite without the sugar. It was originally produced in the United States as “Sugar Free_Sprite” in 1974, then was renamed to “Diet_Sprite” in 1983, with some countries having the drink known as “Sprite Light” (“Sprite_Lite” in the United Kingdom). In September 2004, it was rebranded as “Diet_Sprite Zero” in the US and “Sprite_Zero” (“Sprite_Z” in the United Kingdom, until rebranding as Sprite_Zero) in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Europe, India, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, New Zealand, and the UK. “Diet” was dropped from the product’s name, to become simply “Sprite_Zero,” when new logos debuted in June 2006. The “Zero” designation for low-calorie sodas from the Coca-Cola Company was first used on Diet Sprite_Zero before being used on the flagship Zero product, Coca-Cola Zero. Re-branded as “Sprite_Zero Sugar” in 2019 to align with the Coca-Cola Company’s 2017 re-branding of Coca-Cola Zero as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.
Sprite_Lemon-Lime Herb	1970s	Sprite with a herb taste. Only known to be sold in Germany.
Chinotto	1990’s (purchase by Coca-Cola)	The name Sprite is known as in Venezuela. It was originally an independently produced beverage alongside Hit before Coca-Cola purchased the bottler and later rebranded the graphics of both as Venezuelan counterparts to their existing drinks, with Chinotto becoming the counterpart to it.
Recharge by_Sprite	Early 2000s	A Sprite_Energy Drink variant sold in Australia until 2006. The drink was also turquoise in color, different from how Sprite is usually clear.
Sprite_Ice	2002	Sprite with a minty aftertaste. Originally released as “Sprite_Blue” in Korea in 2002, and has been released under various names, such as “Sprite Ice” in various countries like Canada, ‘”Sprite Ice Cube” in Belgium, “Sprite Ice Blue” in Italy and Chile, “Sprite Icy Mint” in Mainland China, “Sprite Mynta” in Sweden and “Sprite_Mynte” in Norway.
Sprite_Remix Tropical	2003	Sprite with Tropical Flavors, and the first in the Sprite_Remix series of sodas sold in the United States. It was sold from 2003 to 2004, until being replaced with the “Berryclear” variety.
Sprite_Super Lemon	2003	A Slurpee Variant of Sprite, released in Hong Kong in 2003.
Sprite_on Fire	2004	Sprite with a ginger flavor, which was marketed as having a burning sensation. It was introduced in Hong Kong in 2003, and later debuted in China in 2004.
Sprite_Remix BerryClear	2004	Sprite with Berry flavors, and the second in the Sprite_Remix series of sodas sold in the United States. It was sold from 2004 to 2005, until being replaced with the “Aruba Jam” variety.
Sprite_Remix Aruba Jam	2005	Sprite with Fruit Flavors, and the last in the Sprite_Remix series of sodas sold in the United States. It was sold from 2005 to 2006.
Sprite_3G	2005	A Sprite energy drink variant originally launched in the United Kingdom in 2005. Ingredients include glucose, caffeine from green coffee beans, and guarana. It was also released in various other countries but was discontinued in the UK in 2007 due to poor sales, and that Coca-Cola wanted to focus more on Relentless.
Sprite_Duo	2007	A variant with less carbonation and extra lemon juice. Was released exclusively in Spain in Spring 2007.
Sprite_Green	2009	A variant sweetened with Truvia (a natural zero-calorie sweetener made from stevia). It however, wasn’t a success and was discontinued not long after being released.
Sprite_(Stevia Formula)	2012	In France in 2012, Sprite was reformulated removing 30% of the sugar and replacing it with the sweetener Stevia. This led to the drink containing fewer calories. This reformulation soon spread to Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands in 2013.It was discontinued in the Netherlands in 2017 when the Coca-Cola Company rebranded Sprite_Zero as simply Sprite. This was followed on in the United Kingdom and Poland in 2018 when the formula was changed and Aspartame and Ace-K were added as replacements (although Poland reverted back to solely using Sugar in 2020), while France reverted back to the original sugar-sweetened formula in 2020.
Sprite_Cranberry	2013	A cranberry-flavored Sprite. It was first sold for the holiday season in 2013 and has been sold every holiday season since. The variant competes with PepsiCo’s Mist Twst Cranberry, which unlike Sprite Cranberry is sold year-round. An advertisement for this beverage featuring LeBron James inspired an Internet meme and later, a horror game.
Sprite_6 Mix	2014	Sprite with additional Cherry and Orange Flavors in addition to the Lemon and Lime. It was released as a collaboration between Sprite and LeBron James in the United States in 2014. It was sold again as “Sprite_LeBron’s Mix” in 2015.
Sprite_Blast	2014	Sprite with sweet and sour Flavors. It was released for the Summer of 2014 in the United States, exclusive to 7-Eleven stores (at time of sale), and was sold only in 7.5 ounce single cans. The variety was also released in New Zealand in summer 2017 and was sold in all sizes.
Sprite_Tropical	2015	A Re-Release of Sprite Remix Tropical, it was sold for a limited time in 2015, and again as “Sprite Tropical Mix” in 2016.
Sprite_Cucumber	2017	Sprite with a Cucumber flavor. Launched in 2017 in Russia and in June 2018 in Romania.In September 2021, the Russian version of the drink was made available in the United States at the reopened Club Cool attraction at Epcot in Walt Disney World.
Sprite_Cherry	2017	Sprite with a Cherry flavor. Launched in 2017 in the United States as a permanent variety.
MIX by Sprite: Tropic Berry	2018	Sprite with a tropical berry flavor. Similar to Sprite Tropical Mix, and fountain-exclusive to McDonald’s. Distribution reduced in the spring of 2021 after the re-introduction of Hi-C Orange Lavaburst, which it replaced.
Sprite_Lymonade	2019	Sprite mixed with lemonade and 1% lemon juice.
Sprite_40% Less Sugar	2019	Sprite re-launched in Australia with a new recipe containing 40% less sugar (compared with old Sprite) in August 2019. It has no Aspartame but replaces some of the sugar with Ace K and Sucralose.
Sprite_Ginger	2020
Sprite_Lemon+	2022	A lighter and tangier variety containing caffeine. Sold in Australia as a replacement to the Australian beverage Lift
Sprite_Lymonade Legacy	2023	Strawberry-Lemonade flavored variant of Sprite. it was sold in the United States in May 2023 to coinside with the 50th Anniversary of the Hip-Hop craze.