Gatorade
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Gatorade Xtra |
Gatorade is a non-
carbonated sports drink marketed by
Quaker Oats Company, a division of
PepsiCo. Originally made for
athletes, it is now often consumed by non-athletes as a snack beverage. The drink is intended to rehydrate and to replenish the
carbohydrates (in the form of sugars
sucrose and
glucose) and
electrolytes (
sodium and
potassium salts) depleted during aerobic exercise, especially in warmer climates.
Gatorade was created by Dr.
Robert Cade, Dr. Alex DeQuesada, Dr. Dana Shires and Dr. Jim Free at the
University of Florida in
1965 for the school's
football team and given the university's
athletic nickname, the
Gators. Dr. Cade entered into an agreement with the
Indianapolis-based fruit and vegetable canning company
Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. (S-VC) to produce the product, which he had already patented. In
1973 Cade and S-VC settled a lawsuit with the University of Florida, which had claimed the University owned the rights for the drink's formula. Since that time the University has received more than US$80 million in Gatorade royalties.
Only a year after its commercial introduction Gatorade was reformulated, as its initial recipe contained the
sweetener cyclamate, which was banned by the
FDA. [
1]
The
Gators football team used Gatorade officially in 1967 and went on to win their first
Orange Bowl title. They beat
Georgia Tech, whose coach, when asked why they lost, replied: "We didn't have Gatorade. That made the difference." Gatorade was used officially in 1969 by the
Kansas City Chiefs, who attributed their
Super Bowl title of that year to the University of Florida sports drink.
Marketed with dramatically perspiring athletic imagery, the drink became popular with non-athletes, and dietetic and low-sodium versions were added to the Gatorade product lineup.
The Quaker Oats Company bought S-VC in
1983, after a bidding war with rival
Pillsbury. Quaker licensed manufacturing of Gatorade in some worldwide markets to
PepsiCo, but sued Pepsi in
Australia in
1998, alleging Pepsi had misappropriated Gatorade trade secrets to manufacture its own sports drink, All Sport. Quaker won the Australian case [
2]. In August
2001, Pepsico acquired Quaker (after another bidding war, this time with arch rival
Coca-Cola). Both bidders valued Quaker largely because of the Gatorade brand.
In 1998, Gatorade switched from using glass bottles to using plastic bottles in the United States. Glass bottles are still used in some markets.
Along with
Johnson & Johnson, Gatorade is one of the founding sponsors of the
National Athletic Trainers' Association. It is also the official sports drink of the
National Football League,
Major League Baseball,
National Basketball Association,
Women's National Basketball Association,
NBA Development League, and many other pro and college organizations, providing supplies of the drinks to the teams in all flavors available.
GatorGum
In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Gatorade sold a brand of chewing gum called GatorGum. The product was manufactured by
Fleer Corporation, was available in each of Gatorade's two original flavors (lemon-lime and orange) and was rather sour-tasting by normal chewing gum standards.
GatorGum's foil packaging advertised that the product "Helps Quench Thirst". This claim was highly suspect as (like all chewing gums) the product would not actually rehydrate the body.
The Gatorade dunk
The Gatorade dunk is a sports tradition involving dumping a cooler full of liquid (most commonly Gatorade) over a coach's (or occasionally star player or owner's) head following a meaningful win. The tradition began with the
New York Giants football team in the mid-80s. According to several sources, including
Jim Burt of the Giants, it began on October 28th, 1984, when Burt performed the action on
Bill Parcells after being angered over the coach's treatment of him that week. The Gatorade website claims the tradition began during the 1985-87 Giant season, although this is more likely the time the phenomenon gained national attention. Parcells would be doused after seventeen victories that season, culminating with
Super Bowl XXI.
In 2005,
ESPN sports business writer Darren Rovell, published a book entitled
First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat into a Cultural Phenomenon, a history of Gatorade, in which he, among other things, documented the story behind the Gatorade dunking phenomenon.
In this context, the word Gatorade is often used as a verb, as in to "Gatorade the coach".
The original Gatorade contained water, sucrose (table sugar) and glucose-fructose syrups, citric acid, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, and flavoring/coloring ingredients. It supplies 127 mg/l of potassium and 464 mg/l of sodium, and 59 g/l of carbohydrates (in the form of sugars). The current (2006) Gatorade panel claims that Gatorade rehydrates athletes better than water because the flavor makes it easier to drink. The Gatorade also contains carbohydrates that are needed that water does not have along with needed electrolytes, potassium and sodium.
Gatorade also markets an Energy Formula and an Endurance Formula. The Energy Formula was introduced in
2000 and contains more monosaccharides and carbohydrates for quick available energy needed during athletic competition. As a result, this formula is sweeter than regular Gatorade. It comes in 12-fluid ounce plastic bottles in the U.S. The Endurance Formula, introduced in 2004, contains more of the electrolytes than the typical Gatorade formula. The additional electrolytes replenish what the body sweats out during extended periods of physical exertion, especially in hot weather. Because of this, the Endurance Formula tastes saltier than original Gatorade. In
2006, Gatorade introduced its Rain flavor line, which features a lighter, watery taste similar to its Propel line.
In 2000, Gatorade introduced Propel Fitness Water. Propel Fitness Water is sweetened with sucrose syrup, sucralose and acesulfame potassium, so as to have less food energy per serving than Gatorade. It was marketed for those who are more concerned with simply rehydrating than with gaining energy. Propel has the same electrolytes as Gatorade, along with some vitamins. Propel Fitness Water with Calcium was introduced in 2006.
Gatorade revealed the Gatorade line Energy Bar in 1999. This energy bar was Gatorade's first foray into solid foods, and was introduced to compete with
PowerBar and
Clif Bar. Gatorade Energy Bars contain a large proportion of protein in addition to its carbohydrates. The bar is mainly made up of puffed grains and rice syrup, common components of energy bars.
The
Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) is a facility for researching
athletics,
hydration, and the "
science of
sweat". The headquarters are in
Barrington,
Illinois and were established in
1988. The facility has laboratories especially for studying
nutrition,
exercise physiology, and
biochemistry.
Gatorade's main competition is
POWERade, made by the
Coca-Cola Company.
Kool-Aid also holds a fair share of potential sports drink consumers.
All Sport is a competitor marketed by
Monarch Beverage Company, of
Atlanta,
Georgia. All Sport was marketed by PepsiCo until 2001, when Gatorade's maker, the
Quaker Oats Company was acquired by PepsiCo. All Sport was sold off to the Monarch Beverage Company soon after.
Outside the United States the
Lucozade energy drink (manufactured since 1927 by the pharmaceutical company now known as
GlaxoSmithKline) competes with Gatorade and
Powerade. Lucozade's formulation differs in that it uses primarily
glucose and contains caffeine. The more direct competitor to Gatorade and Powerade is Lucozade Sport.
*Lemon Lime (yellow)
* Orange (orange)
* Fruit Punch (red)
* Iced Tea Cooler (brown - discontinued in 1995)
* Frost Glacier Freeze (light blue)
* Frost Riptide Rush (purple)
* Frost Alpine Snow (white, discontinued.)
* Frost Whitewater Splash (green, discontinued in favor of High Tide)
* Frost Clear Melon (colorless, discontinued)
* Lemon Ice (colorless, discontinued)
* Fierce Lime (green, discontinued)
* Fierce Melon (orange)
* Fierce Berry (red, discontinued)
* Fierce Grape (dark blue-violet)
* Midnight Thunder (black, discontinued)
* Passion Fruit (pink, discontinued)
* Starfruit (light green, discontinued)
* Frost High Tide (green, discontinued)
* Strawberry Ice (colorless, discontinued)
* Lime Ice (colorless, discontinued)
* Orange Ice (colorless, discontinued)
* Frost Cascade Crash (blue, discontinued)
* Cool Blue (blue)
* Extremo Tropical Intenso (red)
* Extremo Citrico Vibrante (yellow, discontinued)
* Extremo Mango Electrico (orange)
* Watermelon Ice (colorless)
* Berry Citrus (red, discontinued)
* Fierce Strawberry (dark pink)
* ESPN the Flavor (red, discontinued)
* X-Factor Fruit Punch + Berry (red)
* X-Factor Orange + Tropical Fruit (red-orange)
* X-Factor Lemon-lime + Strawberry (yellow-green)
* Lemonade (light yellow)
* Raspberry Lemonade (very light pink)
* Strawberry Lemonade (pink, discontinued)
* All-Stars Grape (dark blue-violet, discontinued)
* All-Stars Lemon-Lime (yellow, discontinued)
* All-Stars Berry (blue)
* All-Stars Strawberry (red, discontinued)
* Cooler Orange (orange, limited edition, discontinued)
* Berry Rain (light purple)
* Lime Rain (light green)
* Tangerine Rain (light orange)
* Cherry Rain (light red) (promotional flavor being offered only in 7-11 stores for Summer 2006)
* Fierce Wild Berry (blue)
Year unknown
* All-Stars Ice Punch (colorless)
* All-Stars Tropical Punch (orange, discontinued)
* Gatorade Smoothies (Orange, Fruit Punch, Mango, Strawberry)
* Citrus Cooler (Yellow-orange) (4th flavor, introduced during the 1980s after fruit punch; gained popularity as Michael Jordan's preferred flavor). Discontinued, and has been renamed; but is only available in a multi pak. As of June 2006, Citrus Cooler can be found in 64-ounce bottles at
Kroger,
Publix and
Food Lion stores in Virginia and Georgia.
* Strawberry Kiwi (pink, discontinued)
* Cherry Rush (Deep Red, Discontinued)
* M-M-Mandarina! (Mandarin Orange; produced and distributed primarily into Hispanic neighborhoods; stronger in flavor than other Orange Gatorade flavors)
* Active
* Alpine Snow
* Antarctic Freeze
* Arctic Snow
* Apple
* Apple Ice
* Berry Citrus
* Berry Rain
* Black Ice
* Blueberry
* Blue Bolt
* Blue Raspberry
* Blue Thunder
* Cascade Crash
* Challenge
* Citrus
* Citrus Cooler
* Citrus Fruit
* Citrus Water
* Cool Blue
* Cool Blue Raspberry
* Cool Cascade
* Coom Rush
* Extremo Citrico Vibrante
* Extremo Mango Electrico
* Extremo Tropical Intenso
* Fierce Berry
* Fierce Citrus Fruit
* Fierce Grape
* Fierce Lemon
* Fierce Lime
* Fierce Melon
* Fierce Orange Cherry
* Fierce Strawberry
* Fruit Punch
* Furia Intensa
* Glacier Freeze
* Grape
* Grapefruit
* Green
* Green Apple
* High Tide
* Kiwi
* Lemon
* Lemonade
* Lemon Chill
* Lemon Ice
* Lemon Lime
* Lemon Mix
* Lime Ice
* Mandarin
* Mango
* Maracuya
* Nespera
* Orange
* Orange Grapefruit
* Orange Ice
* Orange Mix
* Passion Fruit
* Peach Cooler
* Pink Grapefruit
* Pro
* Raspberry
* Red
* Red Orange
* Red Tornado
* Riptide Rush
* Sky Blast
* Strawberry Ice
* Strawberry Kiwi
* Strawberry Passion Fruit
* Strawberry Watermelon
* Tangerine
* Tropical
* Tropical Burst
* Tropical Fruit
* Tropical Storm
* Watermelon Ice
* White Ice
* Wild Water Rush
* X-Factor Fruit Punch + Berry
* X-Factor Lemon Lime + Strawberry
* Fruit Punch
* Grape
* OrangeEndo orange is another flavor
* Fruit Punch (Discontinued)
* Lemon-Lime
* Orange
* Berry (discontinued)
* Chocolate
* Chocolate Chip
* Peanut Butter
* Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip
*In
Clerks., Dante Hicks' (
Brian O'Halloran) hockey teammates request free Gatorade from the Quick Stop convenience store.
*In
The Waterboy, Coach Klein (
Henry Winkler) tells Bobby Boucher (
Adam Sandler) that Gatorade is better than water, in an effort to harness his inner rage for use on the football field.
*Comedian
Mitch Hedberg has said in his stand-up comedy that "Gatorade forgets about the thirsty dude demographic", making a reference to Gatorade's traditional marketing campaigns that focus exclusively on the athletics market.
*On August 10, 2006 21 suspected terrorist were planning to mix British Gatorade with Liquid Explosive To Blow Up Jet Liners in Britain
A number of "electrolyte replacement drinks" have been introduced in both commercial and non-commercial contexts. Two of the more popular home recipes are:
* Water,
vinegar (usually a strongly flavored vinegar such as apple cider),
molasses (sometimes black strap), and sometimes other flavorings such as
honey and/or
ginger (usually powdered). This is called
switchel. [
3]
* Water,
Kool-Aid mix, various
salts, and sometimes other
minerals such as
sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). This makes a more "Gatorade-like" drink than switchel. [
4]See also:
Oral rehydration therapy*
Gatorade.com*
Gatorade Sports Science Institute*
Gatorade page at the University of Florida*
Details of "true" Gatorade urban-legend*
The Gatorade-Penis conspiracy, photos and analysis of alleged subliminal marketing via a penis-shaped bottle
