Fresca is a grapefruit-flavored citrus soft drink created by The Coca-Cola Company. Borrowing the wordFresca from Spanish, it was first introduced in the United States in 1966. Originally only a sugar-free diet soda, it has subsequently been sold also in sweetened form in certain markets. Since 2018, it has been marketed in the U.S. as "sparkling flavored soda", rather than as a soft drink.
History
Since introduction in 1966, Fresca has been marketed in the United States as a sugar-free, lime and grapefruit-flavored diet soft drink. Fresca has undergone several major ingredient changes since its introduction. It was originally sweetened with cyclamates, which were banned by the FDA in 1969, and replaced with saccharin. That was replaced by NutraSweet-brand aspartame. Around the time of the 2005 redesign, acesulfame potassium was added as a secondary sweetener. Coca-Cola markets a sugar sweetened version of Fresca in Latin America. In 1997, The Coca-Cola Company responded to requests for this product from immigrant communities by launching it throughout the U.S. as Citra. This was a success but is instead sold as the Citrus flavor in Coca-Cola's Fanta line in areas with large Hispanic populations. In Colombia and Argentina sweetened Fresca is called Quatro and marketed using Fresca's colors and logos. Fresca was made available in South Africa during the early 1990s with a series of colorful ads featuring British-Nigerian actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim with the slogan, "Nothing tastes like Fresca." The soft drink developed a cult following but sales were discontinued. Fresca packaging has been redesigned several times, although advertising continues to emphasize sophistication. In 2005, Coca-Cola gave Fresca a more contemporary look, Fresca's first makeover since 1995. During this redesign, two new flavors were introduced and the original grapefruit flavor was renamed Sparkling Citrus. Later, "Sparkling" was dropped and the original flavor was renamed Original Citrus. Several additional flavors have been added to the line-up since 2005, although those do not seem to have survived. Coca-Cola announced revamped packaging again in 2018 along with a new marketing campaign targeted towards millennials - the first Fresca advertising since 2008 - with the stated intention of "reeling in a new generation of drinkers unfamiliar with the brand". The marketing describes it as a "sparkling flavored soda", competing with other sparkling beverage products like La Croix and Izze.
U.S. flavors
According to Coca-Cola, the following flavors of Fresca are marketed :
, a Fresca drinker, had dedicated signal boxes installed in his White House offices. These typically featured four buzzers: one to page his secretary, one for the Chief of Staff, and two for a military valet stationed in a small office next to the Oval Office. The valet would bring Johnson either a Fresca or coffee, depending on which button the President pushed. Fresca was also the favorite beverage of American actor John Hillerman, best known for his role as Higgins in the television series Magnum, P.I. A bottle of Fresca stands on the office desk of Chief Mildred Proctor in the 2013 science fiction comedy film R.I.P.D., adding to the outré atmosphere of the department. A can of Fresca is also prominently shown in one of the episodes of HBO's Silicon Valley during the signing of a contract. In the 1980 comedy filmCaddyshack, Judge Smails dresses down Danny Noonan in his office, guarantees him a college scholarship, and then ruffles his hair and asks cheerfully, "How 'bout a Fresca?" In the Aaron Sorkinpolitical dramaThe West Wing episode "The Portland Trip", Associate White House Counselor Ainsley Hayes requests a Fresca but is informed that the White House did not stock it.
