Mirinda

Mirinda is a carbonated fruit-flavoured soft drink owned by PepsiCo. It was created in Spain in the late 1950s and has since spread to many countries, where it competes with Fanta and Crush, with orange as its best-selling flavour.

History

The brand was first registered in Spain at the end of the 1950s. According to the sources available, the company applied to register the name around 1956 and 1957, and in 1959 it also sought registration of its commercial name. The original logo was a large green M with the word Mirinda printed over it in white. Dates differ between references, so they should be read with some caution.

Over time PepsiCo took the drink to other markets. It was sold in Germany from the 1970s, and today it is found across much of Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. In Spain it was largely withdrawn in the 1990s, when the company bought the Kas brand, which specialised in citrus drinks and had a stronger local presence, and chose to focus on that label instead.

Culture

Mirinda is associated with the fruit sodas served in bars, cafés and family meals. In Spain it had a strong advertising presence in the 1970s, with the well-known Mirinda girl and a 1974 television campaign starring the comic characters Mortadelo and Filemón, which later spread into Bruguera comic books. The brand also turns up often in Spanish fiction, from short films by Álex de la Iglesia to series and films set in different decades, where its logo helps place a scene in a specific period.

Its range varies widely from country to country. Argentina, Paraguay and the Philippines have sold flavours such as guaraná, grape or calamansi, while Morocco, Malta and Thailand have favoured citrus and other fruit blends. Despite this variety, orange accounts for most of the worldwide sales, and the drink remains common in cinemas, fast-food chains and grocery shops in many countries.

Trivia