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Canada Dry

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Canada Dry
Product typeSoft drink
OwnerKeurig Dr Pepper
CountryCanada
Introduced1904; 120 years ago (1904)
MarketsCanada, United States, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Europe, Japan,Turkey, Middle East, Africa
Previous ownersCadbury
(1986–2008)
Canada Dry Ginger Ale Inc.
(1923–1986)
John J. McLaughlin family
(1904–1923)[1]
Websitewww.canadadry.com canadadry.ca

Canada Dry is a Canadian-American brand of soft drinks[2] founded in Toronto, Ontario, in 1904, and owned since 2008 by the American company Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper).[3] For over 100 years, Canada Dry has been known mainly for its ginger ale, though the company also manufactures a number of other soft drinks and mixers. Although it (as the brand name suggests) originated in Canada, Canada Dry is now produced in many countries such as the United States, Panama, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Turkey and in a number of countries of Europe and the Middle East.

Etymology

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The "Dry" in the brand's name refers to not being sweet, as in a dry wine. When John J. McLaughlin originally made his new soft drink, "Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale", it was far less sweet than other ginger ales then available; as a result, he labelled it "dry".[4]

History

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A faded Canada Dry sign on the site of a shuttered Iranian confectionery, a victim of the 1979 Revolution, seen in 2011

In 1890, Canadian pharmacist and chemist John J. McLaughlin of Enniskillen, Ontario, after working in a soda factory in Brooklyn, New York,[5] opened a carbonated water plant in Toronto.[1] McLaughlin was the eldest son of Robert McLaughlin, founder of McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Car.[6] In 1904, McLaughlin created "Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale". Three years later, the drink was appointed to the Viceregal Household of the Governor General of Canada and the label featuring a beaver atop a map of Canada was replaced with the present crown and shield label.[7]

1916 Toronto Star ad for the product

When McLaughlin began shipping his product to New York, it became so popular that he opened a plant in Manhattan shortly thereafter. After McLaughlin's death in 1914, the company was run briefly by his brother, Samuel McLaughlin. P. D. Saylor and Associates bought the business from the McLaughlin family in 1923 and formed Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., a public company.[1]

Canada Dry's popularity as a mixer began during Prohibition, when its flavor helped mask the taste of homemade liquor.[8] In the 1930s, Canada Dry expanded worldwide. From the 1950s onward, the company introduced a larger number of products.

Norton Simon took an interest in the company in 1964, and it merged with Simon's other holdings, the McCall Corporation and Hunt Foods, to form Norton Simon Inc. Dr Pepper bought Canada Dry from Norton Simon in 1982.[9][10] In 1984, Dr Pepper was acquired by Forstmann Little & Company, and Canada Dry was sold to R. J. Reynolds' Del Monte Foods unit to pay off acquisition debt.[11] RJR Nabisco sold its soft drink business to Cadbury Schweppes in 1986. Today, Canada Dry is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, which was spun off from Cadbury Schweppes in 2008.[1][12]

'Made from Real Ginger' lawsuits

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In 2019, Canada Dry faced false advertising lawsuits from a few consumers who requested class action status.[13] Although the ingredients included a natural flavour extract made from ginger root,[14] the plaintiffs said the drink did not have enough ginger flavor for people to be able to taste it, and that they thought the advertising slogan indicated that the drink was "made by chopping or powdering the root of the ginger plant", instead of using a small amount of liquid extracted from a ginger root.[13] To settle this lawsuit, the company decided to stop making this claim in the US and to offer between US$5.20 and $40 to affected US consumers.[13][15]

In early 2019, a class-action lawsuit was requested in Canada,[16] where the Canadian Food Inspection Agency regulations specify that ingredients in food may be described as "real" if that ingredient "is present in the food, regardless of what form (e.g., frozen, powdered, ground, concentrated, etc.)".[14] In a settlement, Canada Dry Mott's Inc. agreed to pay $200,000, inclusive of all expenses and fees, plus disbursements of $18,607.61, but it did not require the defendant to change its product labelling or advertising for products marketed in Canada. The settlement amount was to be distributed to the class members by way of cy-près donation to the Law Foundation of British Columbia, while two lead plaintiffs, Victor Cardoso and Lionel Ravvin, received $1,500 each.[17][18]

The subjectivity of how much ginger is necessary before a product can be fairly described as being "made from real ginger" prompted one author to quip that "The truth is in the lie of the beholder".[14]

A can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale with the 2010–2022 logo at Lake Louise
Canada Dry building in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, May 1946

Marketing

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Nylon Studios produced the song used in the Rabbit's "Jack's Farm" commercial featuring Canada Dry Ginger Ale.[19] A Cantonese version of the ad was also produced.

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d "History of our Brands". Cadbury. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
  2. ^ "Ginger Ales, Seltzer Waters, Sodas | Canada Dry". www.canadadry.com. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  3. ^ "Canada Dry Mott's - Our History". www.canadadrymotts.ca. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  4. ^ Morris, Evan. From Altoids to Zima: The Surprising Stories Behind 125 Famous Brand Names. Fireside, 2004. p. 23–24.
  5. ^ "The McLaughlins - Sleighs, Buggys, Cars and Ginger Ale". The Clarington Promoter, September 2016, pages 1 and 4. by Myno Van Dyke
  6. ^ Robertson, Heather (October 28, 1995). Driving Force: The McLaughlin Family and the Age of the Car. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-7556-1.
  7. ^ Nader, Ralph; Nadia Milleron; Duff Conacher (September 1, 1992). Canada Firsts. McClelland & Stewart. pp. 96. ISBN 978-0-7710-6713-6.
  8. ^ Witzel, Michael Karl; Gyvel Young-Witzel (May 1998). Soda pop!: from miracle medicine to pop culture. Town Square Books. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-89658-326-9.
  9. ^ "DR PEPPER TO ACQUIRE CANADA DRY". The New York Times, By Barnaby J. Feder September 16, 1981
  10. ^ "Canada Dry Sold to Dr Pepper Co.", The New York Times, February 3, 1982
  11. ^ "Schweppes to Buy Nabisco's Sunkist, Canada Dry Units". Los Angeles Times. June 3, 1986. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  12. ^ "Keurig Dr Pepper - Canada Dry". Keurig Dr Pepper. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  13. ^ a b c Drinking, Eating & (January 12, 2019). "Facing false advertising lawsuits, Canada Dry drops claim it is 'made from real ginger' | National Post". Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  14. ^ a b c Gnirrs, Gary (March 2019). "Canada Dry by Design". Food in Canada. 79 (2): 14.
  15. ^ Aonso, Casey (January 12, 2019). "Canada Dry Is Being Forced To Pay Out Anyone Who Has Bought Their Ginger Ale Since 2013 Because Of This Lawsuit". www.narcity.com. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  16. ^ International, Radio Canada (January 28, 2019). "Canada Dry Ginger Ale- "no ginger" lawsuit settled in U.S., begins in Canada". RCI | English. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  17. ^ B.C. man's lawsuit over marketing of Canada Dry ginger ale settled for $200,000
  18. ^ Cardoso v. Canada Dry Mott’s Inc., 2020 BCSC 1569
  19. ^ "Nylon Studios Creates Music for New Canada Dry TV Ad". Nylons Studios. February 28, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2015.

Bibliography

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