HAPPY BIRTHDAY SLURPEE

Happy Birthday To You…Happy Birthday To You….Happy Birthday, Dear Friend….Happy Birthday To You.

Yes, it’s an old friend’s 40th birthday. Do you remember your 40th birthday? It’s one of those important ones – when you realize that middle age is approaching faster than a Florida hurricane in July. I remember my 40th – I was still in grade school. It was embarrassing. Not that I was still in grade school but that my two kids were in higher grades.

Long before smoothies and Frappuccinos there was the Slurpee. That slushy, colorful 7-Eleven brand – and American icon – turned 40-years old. It’s still popular for the same reason it caught on back then: fun, variety, “brain freeze” and colorful tongues. Every time you gulped down a Slurpee the immediate pain that occurred in your forehead and brain was like someone slammed a bayonet into your eye socket. It was a feeling you never forgot and weirdly looked forward to every time you ordered the drink.

Slurpee was born in Kansas at a Dairy Queen where owner Omar Knedlik served semi-frozen bottled soft drinks. When you live in Kansas there aren’t many exciting things to do besides throwing road-kill like Frisbees…or counting colonels of corn that look like Jesus. When Omar’s drinks were a hit, he worked with a Dallas company to develop the “Icee” machine that replicated that consistency in slushy drinks served at 28 degrees. When a 7-Eleven manager happened upon an Icee machine in a rival’s store, he saw potential and got them into three 7-Eleven stores in 1965. Within two years they were in almost every 7-Eleven.

Poor, old Omar Knedlik, didn’t even have the pleasure of having the drink named after him. Is the “Omar”or the “Knedlik” not as magical as Slurpee? He didn’t even get a royalty for inventing the drink. The name Slurpee got its name for the noise it makes through the straw when you get a hernia sipping the drink.

“It hasn’t changed a lot in 40 years”, says 7-Eleven. “You can’t say that about lots of brands.” Some interesting facts: According to 7-Eleven, since 1965, more than 6 billion Slurpees have been sold. They are now sold in 17 countries. Most Islamic countries deserve the pain they get from the drink. U.S. annual sales alone are $170 million. Building the brand, in 1970, Slurpee marketing included Slurp Magazine and a dance step and song called The Slurp.

Slurp Magazine is almost as popular as “Egg Futures and You.” And, The Slurp is a favorite dance with epileptics all over the world. Happy Birthday Slurpee – many more to come.