Healthy? The History of Orange Juice
Who invented that ‘100% pure squeezed sunshine’
Almost a $30,000 million industry, the “state beverage” of Florida, today the orange juice has become an American staple. Nothing says more than a nice big cup of OJ (orange juice) in the morning. The history behind this delightful drink, however, is lesser-known. One that involves brilliant marketing, a war, and the breakthrough in frozen juice technology…
Marketing invents it all
Although OJ has been around for a long time, dating back to the 17th century. In the 1900s, drinking OJ was just not a thing. No one has ever thought of drinking oranges. As a result, American orange consumptions were low.
This caused trouble for orange producers.
One of them was the California Fruit Growers Exchange. They needed people to eat more oranges, and they hired adman Albert Lasker to do just that.
- The first thing Albert did was renaming the company to “Sunkist.”
Then Albert began thinking of ways to increase orange consumption. He learned that a cup of OJ would need 2–3 oranges.
2. Albert quickly started a “Drink an Orange” campaign.
