Some Fresh, Fun Facts About Sprite

Here are some fresh, fast facts about everyone’s favorite Lymon fizzy drink.

Sprite is manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Sprite was developed in West Germany in 1959 as ‘Fanta Klare Zitrone’ (Clear Lemon Fanta) and introduced to the United States as Sprite in 1961. Fanta Klare Zitrone was renamed Sprite in West Germany in 1968. Sprite was manufactured as Coca-Cola’s response to the popularity of 7 Up.

Sprite is available in more than 190 countries. Sprite picked up popularity with teenagers in the 1980’s after several advertising campaigns targeted at teenagers. Sprite describes the flavor of their drink as lymon, a mixture of both lemon and lime, and this has since become one of their key marketing terms. In the 1990s, Sprite launched the ‘Jooky’ ad campaign, which poked fun at other soft drinks and their lack of authenticity and bandwagon-driven style of advertising, foremost among the competitive soft drinks mocked was Pepsi.

In 2000, graffiti artist Temper was hired by Sprite to create a limited edition design in celebration of the millennium that appeared on 100 million cans distributed across Europe.

In 2004, Coca-Cola created Miles Thirst, a vinyl doll voiced by Reno Wilson (the voice of Frenzy, Mudflap, and Brains from across the Transformers films) in order to exploit the hip-hop market to advertise their range of soft drinks.

A Sprite is also the name for a type of small goblin, which was also the focus of one of the U.K.’s more memorable Sprite adverts. The advert featured the taglines ‘Only One Sprite’s Right’ and ‘Get the Right Sprite’.

In 2012, Sprite was reformulated in France, removing 30% of the sugar and replacing it with the sweetener Stevia, lowering the total calorie count. This soon spread to the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands in 2013. The Stevia plant belongs to the chrysanthemum family and is native to Paraguay.

Over the years Sprite has had 17 variations worldwide, including: Sprite Zero, Sprite Remix, Sprite Blast, Sprite Ice, Sprite Duo, Sprite Super Lemon, Sprite Lemon Lime Herb, Sprite Recharge, Sprite Green, Sprite 3G, Sprite Cranberry, Sprite 6 Mix (aka Sprite LeBron’s Mix) and Sprite Tropical.

Sprite can help relieve some stomach pains, such as those caused by a gassy build-up. Carbonated beverages such as Sprite can cause you to burp and expel some of the gas, thus relieving you of your stomach pain.

Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 0

Aston Villa moved to within two points of the summit of the Premier League with a narrow win over Arsenal, who missed out on a chance to go top. Villa took the lead at Villa Park through skipper John McGinn, who brought Leon Bailey’s cross under control before hammering the ball into the net. Arsenal had a late Kai Havertz effort ruled out for handball by referee Jarred Gillett, with the video assistant referee upholding the call after a lengthy review. Despite Arsenal pressure, Villa held on to back up their statement victory over champions Manchester City on Wednesday and record a club record 15th straight home league victory.

Defeat will be a blow for title-chasing Arsenal, whose run of six straight wins in all competitions came to an end. Arsenal started Saturday top of the table, dropping to second after Liverpool’s win over Crystal Palace at lunchtime. Mikel Arteta’s side’s last defeat had come at Newcastle at the start of November and his team had been enjoying a four-match winning run in the league. They created plenty of chances at a boisterous Villa Park. Bukayo Saka put a shot wide from close range just before McGinn’s opener and Gabriel Martinelli dinked the ball over Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez but saw his effort hacked off the line by Diego Carlos in the first half.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard had good chances from 12 yards out either side of the break. The first was saved by Martinez, while the second skidded wide. They also had a penalty shout just after half-time when Douglas Luiz caught Gabriel Jesus’ ankle in the area, only for the VAR to uphold referee Gillett’s decision to wave play on. The Gunners came close again midway through the second period when a routine corner was spilled by Martinez and deflected off Watkins on to the post before being cleared away with William Saliba lurking. And Saka had the ball in the net in the second half after dribbling around Martinez but had timed his run a fraction too early.

But the real drama was still to come. In stoppage time Havertz brought down a cross and hacked the ball into the Villa net. The goal was immediately ruled out on the field, but it took a VAR review to confirm Havertz had inadvertently controlled the ball with his hand. Arsenal would not create another clear chance, slipping to a second league defeat of the season.