Sprite 2010

Sprite is a transparent, lemon-lime flavored (called "Lymon" by the company's owner), caffeine free soft drink, produced by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced in the United States in 1961. This was Coke's response to the popularity of 7 Up, which had begun as "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" in 1929. It comes in a primarily silver, green, and blue can or a green translucent bottle with a primarily green and blue label. In 1978, Sprite became the market leader position in the lemon soda category.

Sprite was introduced to the United States in 1961 to compete against 7 Up. Early magazine advertisements promoted it as a somewhat sophisticated, tart and not-too-sweet drink mixer, to be used (similar to tonic water or ginger ale) with alcoholic beverages such as whiskey and vodka[citation needed]. In the 1980s, many years after Sprite's introduction, Coke pressured its large bottlers that distributed 7 Up to replace the soda with the Coca-Cola product. In a large part due to the strength of the Coca-Cola system of bottlers, Sprite finally became the leader position in the lemon soda category in 1978. Since the 1990s, Sprite has sponsored the NBA and used players in its advertising campaigns. Players sponsored have included Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, and Grant Hill.