September 24, 2008

Vintage Beverage: Merry

From Martin Klasch
Merry Ad, 1960s (probably late second half)

Merry was a Swedish soft drink
which was sold from 1963 (1964 nationwide). Its original flavor was lemon/lime, in other words it was a soft drink similar to 7up and Sprite, perhaps a just bit less sweet. Using aggressive market strategies, targeting the adult population, it pretty quickly became a popular product. The slogan was "Merry - med fullvuxen smak" (Merry - with mature taste).
It was cool and hip to drink Merry. For many people growing up in Sweden in the 60s Merry still has a place in their hearts and memories. That's why I think it's a bit strange that it's so hard finding information about the drink on the Internet. I'm pretty sure, though, that Merry survived the 70s but perhaps just barely. My own memories of Merry are not from the time of this ad - I was busy being born around then - but from, I guess, the second half of the 70s. I remember the Merry bottles coming in a completely different shape - they were short and stout and they had an extra large opening.

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Edit (July 2018):


image found here
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What are your memories or rather vad minns du av Merry?

Just as I was about to wrap this post up I found a couple of things. First one promotional photo showing bottles in three sizes. I found it at Skånes Näringslivsarkiv.
From Skånes Näringslivsarkiv


Secondly I found (here) a message - in Swedish of course - from the company Bjäre Industrier AB to its workers regarding the new product Merry. The year was 1963.

From Martin Klasch


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Two Merry ads at Uncle Sid's: 1, 2
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Links only in Swedish:
I bloggen Grisfötter och wienerkorv på burk. kan man läsa lite om AB Bjäre Industrier
och om hur ett Kristet ungdomsförbund siktade på en Rolls Royce
Läs om varför folk inte beställde taxi utan en merry istället.
Mer om Bjäre industrier från sid 20 i denna pdf (sid 19 enl sidnumreringen)
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Related Martin Klasch posts:
Vintage Beverage: Loranga
Vintage Beverage: Champis
Ephemera: Plonk! (Sound effect soft drink labels)
Ephemera: Swedish Soft Drink Labels
Vintage Beverage: Zingo
Vintage Beverage: Cuba Cola
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All posts with label soft drinks
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