Gold Spot was one of the three brands of

carbonated Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic ch ...

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

started in India by

Parle Bisleri Bisleri International (formerly Parle Exports and Parle Bisleri) is an Indian company which is best known for the eponymous brand of bottled water. The company was started in the 1970s by Ramesh Chauhan, and sells bottled water and soft drinks. ...

under the initiative of its founder Ramesh Chauhan in 1977 after the exit of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

had already left the Indian market in 1962 due to slow sales. Gold Spot was introduced along with

Thums Up Thums Up is an Indian multinational brand of cola in India. It was introduced in 1977 to offset the withdrawal of The Coca-Cola Company from India. The brand was later bought by Coca-Cola who re-launched it in order to fight against Pepsi to c ...

and

Limca Limca is an Indian multinational brand of lemon- and lime-flavoured carbonated soft drink made primarily in India and certain parts of the U.S. It contains 60 calories per 150ml can. The formula does not include fruit, relying instead on arti ...

. It was artificially flavoured and coloured

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

. Parle sold Gold Spot along with Thums Up, Limca, Citra and

Maaza Maaza (pronounced "Mahza") is a Coca-Cola fruit drink brand from India and marketed in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Its most popular drink is its mango fruit drink. History The Union Beverages Factory, based in the UAE, began selling it ...

to Coca-Cola in 1993 (which had just relaunched in the Indian market), reportedly for $40 million. In spite of its wide popularity, Gold Spot was withdrawn by Coke from the market in order to re-make space for Coca-Cola's

Fanta Fanta is an American-owned German brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks created by Coca-Cola Deutschland under the leadership of German businessman Max Keith. There are more than 200 flavors worldwide. Fanta originated in Germany as ...

brand. Gold Spot's slogan was "The Zing Thing."

In popular culture

The

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based band

Goldspot Goldspot is a New York-based band. Founded by singer/songwriter/producer and television and film composer Siddhartha Khosla, the group has since received critical acclaim for its debut album ''Tally of the Yes Men'' (''Tally''), and second alb ...

is supposed to be named after this fizzy drink. According to one of the interviews with Siddhartha Khosla (the core member of band), Gold Spot was very popular back in India at the time.

References

{{Coca-Cola brands Indian brands Drink brands Coca-Cola brands Indian drink brands Defunct brands