Canada Dry Ginger Ale

**Canada Dry** is a brand of soft drinks founded in 1904 and owned since 2008 by the American company Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper). 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 Canada Dry originated in Canada, just as the brand name tells, it is now produced in many countries such as the United States, Panama, Mexico, Chile, Japan, and in a number of countries of Europe and the Middle East.

## Etymology

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 When John J. McLaughlin, who first formulated "Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale", originally made his new soft drink, it was far less sweet than other ginger ales then available; as a result, he labelled it "dry".

## History

In 1890, Canadian pharmacist and chemist John J. McLaughlin of Enniskillen, Ontario, after working in a soda factory in Brooklyn, New York, opened a carbonated water plant in Toronto. McLaughlin was the eldest son of Robert McLaughlin, founder of McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Car. 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.

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.

Canada Dry's popularity as a mixer began during Prohibition, when its flavour helped mask the taste of homemade liquor. 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. 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. 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.

### 'Made from Real Ginger' lawsuits

In 2019, Canada Dry faced a false advertisement lawsuit from the U.S. Government. According to researchers, the drink did not have enough ginger for it to have health benefits and for the company to claim that it was "made from real ginger." Instead of defending their ginger content by going to court, they decided to settle by no longer making this claim. Dr Pepper decided to offer payment to those who purchased Canada Dry for personal use since 2013.

After the settlement with the U.S. Government, a class-action lawsuit has also been requested in Canada. As of June 2021, Canada Dry still advertised their drinks as "made from real ginger" in Canada. The Supreme Court of British Columbia case was settled with the defendant Canada Dry Mott's Inc. agreeing 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. On August 9, 2022, Canada Dry announced a new logo on their Canadian Facebook page. As such, it is currently unknown if this logo will be used outside of Canada.