History
In 1890, Canadian pharmacist and chemist John J. McLaughlin of Enniskillen, Ontario, after working in a soda factory in Brooklyn, New York,[4] opened a carbonated water plant in Toronto.[5] McLaughlin was the eldest son of Robert McLaughlin, founder of McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Car.[6] 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.[7]
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.[5]
Canada Dry's popularity as a mixer began during Prohibition, when its flavor helped mask the taste of homemade liquor.[8] In the 1930s, Canada Dry expanded worldwide. From the 1950s onward, the company introduced a larger number of products, including Cactus Cooler.
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.[9][10] 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.[11] 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.[5]
'Made from Real Ginger' lawsuits
In 2019, Canada Dry faced false advertising lawsuits from a few consumers who requested class action status.[13] Although the ingredients included a natural flavour extract made from ginger root,[14] the plaintiffs said the drink did not have enough ginger flavor for people to be able to taste it, and that they thought the advertising slogan indicated that the drink was "made by chopping or powdering the root of the ginger plant", instead of using a small amount of liquid extracted from a ginger root.[13] To settle this lawsuit, the company decided to stop making this claim in the US and to offer between US$5.20 and $40 to affected US consumers.[13][15]
In early 2019, a class-action lawsuit was requested in Canada,[16]
