Sunkist

Sunkist as a brand name dates back to the turn of the 20th century when a co-op of citrus growers, called the Southern California Fruit Exchange, began branding it's fruit in 1908 as "Sunkist," alluding to it's high-quality. This is said to be the first time fruit was branded. Over time the co-op and the brand grew, including fruits other than oranges and even nuts. The co-op changed names later to the California Fruit Growers Exchange and later Sunkist Growers, Inc.

In 1977, General Cinema Corporation was also a Pepsi bottler. To fill out their range of soda offerings General Cinema wanted an orange beverage and so developed it's own concoction and licensed the "Sunkist" brand name from Sunkist Growers. Sunkist, the soda, was released on the public in 1978 and was the best-selling orange soda in the US two-years later.

It's actually surprising to me that a non-profit like the Sunkist Growers, who used their "Sunkist" branding as a sign of their high-quality, fresh fruits, would sell-out to General Cinema who use no oranges in making their drink, but rather citric acid, high-fructose corn syrup, and sodium citrate.

True, it's become this neon-orange which Americans see as the very symbol of "orange" and "freshness" over the duller colors of more natural orange drinks. And it does indeed have the aroma of a fresh orange rind. It has a good deal of carbonation and a tang flavor. But it's sodas like this and Fanta which are the par for the orange soda taster.