Seven-Up (7up) was created by Charles Leiper Grigg, who was introduced to the carbonated beverage business early in his career. Grigg had invented two orange-flavored soft drinks, but it was literally crushed by the dominance of the king of all orange pop drinks, Orange Crush. Grigg shifted his focus to a lemon-lime formula. Originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda", it was launched two weeks before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Its name was later shortened to "7 Up Lithiated Lemon Soda" before being further shortened to just "7 Up" by 1936. Until the government ban in 1948, the original formula contained lithium citrate, which was used in various patent medicines at the time for improving moods. It had been used for many decades to treat manic depression, one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The drink was neither lost on the 1929 stock market crash nor the drummer above.
The origin of the revised name is unclear. Lithium was one of the elements with an atomic number of 7, while others have suggested the name came from the use of 7-ounce bottles when most other soft drinks were bottled in 6-ounce bottles. Grigg never explained the name but did promote 7up as having effects on mood. Another problematic ingredient was Calcium Disodium EDTA which was removed in 2006.
Note: Westinghouse took over 7up in 1969, then sold it to Philip Morris in 1978. The investment firm Hicks & Haas bought it in 1986 with 7up merging with Dr. Pepper in 1988. Now a combined company, it was bought by Cadbury Schweppes in 1995. A popular ad campaign in the 1970s labeled the drink the "Uncola."
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