Talk:Gatorade

Original formulation

There appears to be a contradiction in the text of the article...

The History section has a cited link mentioning that the original formulation of Gatorade contained an artificial sweetener. However, the composition section mentions that the original formula used sugar and syrup, with no mention of other sweeteners. Which is it? --DLWormwood (talk) 18:27, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Contrary to popular belief, the University of Florida did not come up with the sports drink that is now known as Gatorade. The team doctor for the FSU football team, Dr. R.A. Johnson, began producing a sports drink that he called "Seminole Firewater" as early as 1962. Dr. Johnson blended sugar and lime flavoring with electrolytes (salts) to help keep the players hydrated and to prevent cramping. In 1964 at an annual Seminar of Collegiate sports physicians and athletic trainers held in Tallahassee, Fl., a representative from the University of Florida found out about the discovery that sodium and potassium keeps athletes better hydrated because it gives back to the body what is lost through sweat. They returned to Gainesville and, after being tested on the UF football players, the name "Gatorade" was given. The University of Florida requested a certified patent in 1967 for the drink that Dr. Johnson had freely shared with the public. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sskyler328 (talk • contribs) 22:14, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

It was invented in Nebraska. [1] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.32.227.114 (talk) 22:22, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Lol, no GATORade was invented by UF. Other formulationcontroversy and sciences possibly were invented by other schools. This is an article for GATORade — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.196.100.17 (talk) 20:50, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

If memory serves, at one point Gatorade contained glucose as the only sugar. I think the salt content was higher also. see http://www.google.com/patents?id=jUiJAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=gatorade+glucose&hl=en&sa=X&ei=87IlT82UJaPm0QGPmtDLCA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=gatorade%20glucose&f=false With controversy over fructose this seems relevant. Can't find original patent! Mydogtrouble (talk) 21:03, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Flavors

Perhaps a list of all the flavors would be a good new section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Darth Beppo (talk • contribs) 00:42, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

How about explaining why Tiger Gatorrade was discontinued as well? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.107.152.206 (talk) 00:42, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Researchers has to be updated

The article does not mention Dr. de Quesada.
This is the text from http://www.gatorade.com/history/born_in_the_lab/

...Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada ...

greetings from Santiago, Chile —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomasgreene (talk • contribs) 14:20, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I have fixed the article and added a link to the reference you provided. I also reformatted your comment a bit, as it didn't quite work (there is no reference list on the talk page, and your four-tilde signature wasn't picked up by the page, hence the "unsigned" template). Horologium (talk) 14:41, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

This information is incorrect. Gatorade was patented by University of Florida in 1965. However, it was created by an FSU researcher in 1962 and was originally known as "Seminole Firewater." This was highlighted during the 2008 FSU vs. UF football game by ABC commentators on 11/29/2008.

There are no reliable sources that can confirm the trivia question on ABC referred to by the previous commenter. It is nothing more than an urban legend -(11/29/2008 9:10pm) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.74.248.83 (talk) 02:11, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

This article from the Tampa Tribune is the evidence FSU supporters use. 147.9.156.201 (talk) 17:23, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

G2 - correct list of flavors

Fruit Punch

Orange

Grape

Lemon-Lime

Strawberry Kiwi

Blueberry-Pomegranate

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.112.92.101 (talk) 23:31, 11 January 2009 (UTC) 

Carbonated Gatorade

Does anybody remember Carbonated Gatorade? Probably early 70's and it wasn't around long. It was delicious! I remember having it at a Goony Golf/Go Kart Track in Tampa, Florida.66.236.254.36 (talk) 19:43, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Mission G commercials

Does anyone have information about how Mission G and those G commercials are related to Gatorade? I can't find anything and expected to find something here, but nothing. The only mention of Gatorade on the missiong website is on the terms and conditions where it says its the Gatorade company. -- Suso (talk) 11:57, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Gatorade now has high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener

Can someone add that for me please?Powers m (talk) 22:39, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

SoftDrinks importance rating

I changed it to 'high' importance from 'top'. IMHO, Gatorade is not a core soft drink topic, nor is widely known globally. Andyo2000 (talk) 14:41, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Nutrition information

I don't have any standard Gatorade labels handy, but the bottle of G2 right next to me reads 10% RDV of vitamins C and E, and 25% RDV of niacin, B6, and pantothenic acid. You might want to fix that. Update: a quick glance at a bottle of standard Gatorade reveals 50 calories, 110mg sodium, and 30mg potassium per serving, not the 63, 95, and 36.6 that are currently listed. Please edit the article accordingly.99.157.206.162 (talk) 00:54, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey guys, if you're not going to correct this misinformation, then at least unlock the article so that someone else can fix it.69.109.228.165 (talk) 19:31, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Cool Blue

This is listed under blue raspberry as a flavor of Gatorade. I can't find info about it on this page. If anyone has any, could you add a disambig to the name for it? It's also a movie is why. Tyciol (talk) 20:16, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Idiocracy

Resolved

 – Not a permissible addition to the article under WP guidelines.

The pop culture section could tell about Idiocracy. In this Sci-fi movie, a Gatorade-like drink (described as some kind of Gatorade) called Brawndo replaces water everywhere except in the toilets. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.66.166.72 (talk) 17:58, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Or not. See WP:TRIV. And it's not actually Gatorade, so this idea would violate WP:ROC. — SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ʕ(^Õل^ō)ˀ Contribs. 21:40, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Reorganize

Recommend moving "2009 Rebranding" as subsection under History. Sueswim03 (talk) 01:48, 7 October 2009 (UTC)
Also recommend creating sections "Products" and "Former Products." Then, under "Products," list current products and move current "G2" section to subsection under "Products." Move current "Tiger" and "Gator Gum" sections to subsections under "Former Products" heading. Sueswim03 (talk) 01:48, 7 October 2009 (UTC) I think this section should be deleted. The products still say "Gatorade Rain" etc. on the bottles--I believe these are just messages/slogans on the bottle--similar to how bottles of Jones' Soda appear under the cap. Modor (talk) 12:34, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

New article re: G2

Stale

 – No interest generated in this proposal in over 5 months.

Recommend splitting G2 section into new article especially because G2 Composition infobox looks out of place in current format; keep summary of G2 in current article. Sueswim03 (talk) 01:37, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

There's not nearly enough content here about G2 to warrant a split. — SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ʕ(^Õل^ō)ˀ Contribs. 21:22, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Competition section needs correction

This content is no longer correct. The All Sport brand is now owned by All Sport, Inc. The brand was acquired from The Monarch Company in July 2007. See below for source -

All Sport is a competitor marketed by The Monarch Beverage Company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. All Sport was marketed by PepsiCo until 2001 when Gatorade's maker, the Quaker Oats Company, was acquired by PepsiCo and was soon after sold off to the Monarch Beverage Company.

Source: http://www.beverageworld.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33413:cadbury-strengthens-distribution&catid=3:daily-headlines&Itemid=173

July 12, 2007

Also this week, Atlanta-based Monarch Beverages completed a deal to sell its All Sport business to Austin, TX-based Gary Smith, former chief operating officer for Red Bull energy drink. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aad3284 (talk • contribs) 17:57, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Entire article sounds like marketing PR

Why does this entire article sound like it was written by a PR person at Gatorade? 63.86.107.162 (talk) 16:03, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

I would agree. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Micksterama (talk • contribs) 20:54, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

As a procedural matter, I've tagged it with Template:Ad, pending resolution of the issue. — SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ʕ(^Õل^ō)ˀ Contribs. 21:53, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

That's overstating things, large parts of the article were fine when I found it. I've made some tweaks and removed the tag. Choalbaton (talk) 00:06, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Gator Gum section is self-contradictory

The section in question says that the gum both WAS an electrolyte gum with at least a rehydration-assisting function, and yet that it WASN'T a product with Gatorade electrolytes and served no actual function aside from being regular gum. We can't have it both ways. A source needs to be cited on this (even an original wrapper's contents list could be cited as as source, if anyone has one). Also, it's entirely unclear in this section if the revived product had any differences from the original. Practically nothing is said at all about the second-run version, and there's no source for the idea that this version even existed. Also the article states that the gum contained electrolytes to assist rehydration. This is not true because the salt ions, otherwise known as electrolytes, would require the occupation of water molecules to remain stable. Since the gum does not in any way introduce any water, it would ultimately only decrease the available water in the body and therefore would actually counter the rehydration process. — SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ʕ(^Õل^ō)ˀ Contribs. 21:44, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Seeking feedback on proposed revision

There seem to be a handful of issues keeping this from being a good article, so I've taken some time to address them in hopes of bringing this article back up to par. The factors holding this article back at the moment are:

1. Intro/lead is currently a bit too short, at two sentences, and does not adequately summarize the contents of the article.

2. History section starts off well (first paragraph); however it ends abruptly in 1983. Quite a lot has happened since 1983, including an acquisition which is properly reflected in the infobox but not at all in the History section.

3. The formatting of the Products section (currently split into “Current” and “Former”) is problematic for two main reasons:

• The separation of current and former products is not an ideal fit for this article, as this format has resulted in a total of 7 sub-sections which jump around (not in a chronological order) and make it confusing for the reader to follow. This would be more clear and informative in a chronological format, mostly in prose. This also makes sense for Gatorade, as many of the products (flavors) are not discontinued; they are merely re-named (e.g. "Ice" launched in 2002, became "Rain" in 2006, became "No Excuses" in 2009...)

• This separation is also problematic from a WP:WORLDVIEW perspective. For example, that newer line (the “G series”) is in production in the U.S.; however it has not yet been released in Canada. Therefore, the existing article is correct for U.S. residents, yet incorrect for those in Canada.

4. Many of the sources used do not meet WP:RS and/or WP:V criteria, and some are now dead links. Examples include:

• Citations 5 through 13 are intended to indicate sports leagues of which Gatorade is an official sponsor. However these are simply links to the homepages of each league’s website (nfl.com, nba.com, etc.)

• Paragraph on the Gatorade Energy Bar is entirely unsourced

• Too many citations are reliant on the subject of the article itself, when independent sources are available. This not only results in biased information; it results in dead links (such as http://gatorade.com/tiger - citation #25)

• The only citation currently backing up the "Gatorade shower" paragraph (which is important) is http://ask.yahoo.com/20050127.html - an “Ask Yahoo!” post which is not a WP:RS

So with the intent of bringing this article up to Wikipedia’s own standards, I began (and have now finished) putting together a revision which is saved in my userspace here: User:Jeff_Bedford/Gatorade. I’ve tackled all of the issues presented above in this draft --with the most significant changes including an expanded (and sourced) History section, and a restructured Products section, modeled after the Burger King products section. Also of note, Gatorade’s parent company, PepsiCo, is a present client of my employer. Identifying that this can at times present a WP:COI, I felt it important to note this upfront so that others may consider it when reading through my userspace draft. I think you’ll see that I’ve paid careful attention to WP:NPOV, and in this case I actually made several phrasing changes to restructure the existing phrasing into a more neutral, encyclopedic tone.

If it is of interest, let me know what you think. All feedback is welcome. Cheers, Jeff Bedford (talk) 03:10, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

On a follow up note, the proposed edits referred to above have since been implemented; however I remain open to feedback that anyone has. One question for those who are more experienced with images -- the updated logo here is clear in its full-size form; however its present appearance in the infobox is a bit blurry, especially near the bottom of the image. I suspect that this may be due to the fact that it is in .JPG format, and perhaps that .SVG image files scale down without distortion. If you know how to convert this image into .SVG format, feel free to go for it, or drop a note below. --Jeff Bedford (talk) 02:24, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

locked

too much spam? --Pabloviva22 (talk) 13:11, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Improving the article

• I think more information is needed about the co-creators: Dana Shires, Harry James Free, and Alejandro de Quesada. They played a major part in developing Gatorade, and deserve more recognition. Jccort (talk) 19:46, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

File:Gatorade4productsconv.png Nominated for speedy Deletion

	An image used in this article, File:Gatorade4productsconv.png, has been nominated for speedy deletion at Wikimedia Commons for the following reason: Copyright violations What should I do?
	Speedy deletions at commons tend to take longer than they do on Wikipedia, so there is no rush to respond. If you feel the deletion can be contested then please do so (commons:COM:SPEEDY has further information). Otherwise consider finding a replacement image before deletion occurs. This notification is provided by a Bot --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 05:13, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

Of note, this image has since been replaced with one that meets all non-free criteria, and the replacement is hosted on Wikipedia (not on Commons). Thanks, Jeff Bedford (talk) 01:07, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Misinformation in History section

With this edit I made a few very minor updates to the article--mostly consisting of formatting/spacing corrections, additions of reliable sources to previously unsourced content, and minor general copy-editing for readability and to ensure WP:NPOV. As noted above, the company that owns Gatorade (PepsiCo) is a client of my employer, and as a result I will continue to take extra care to write without bias and fully uphold WP:BPCOI. As the changes made in this edit were both constructive and particularly minor I implemented them boldly; though if others think differently please feel free to bold, revert and discuss.

While reading through the article, I came across two IP edits to the History section that added unsubstantiated misinformation:

• In edit #1, the first sentence of the History section was modified to read that "The Gatorade Corporation and the University of Florida claim that the first iteration of Gatorade was invented in 1965 by a team of researchers at the University of Florida..." suggesting that this is not a broadly supported fact.

• Also in edit #1, this sentence was also added to the History section: "However, it is clear that other universities had developed and were using "sports drinks" years before the University of Florida, including rival Florida State University, which developed 'Seminole Firewater.'", linking to two sources: a jpg of a scanned Tampa Tribune article with no printed date (though a date is hand-written in marker at the top) and a CNBC article from 3 Dec 2008.

• In edit #2, this sentence was deleted from the History section: "It was designed, following request from Gators football assistant coach Ray Graves, to aid athletes by acting as a hydrating replacement for body fluids lost in physical exertion in hot weather."

• Also in edit #2, the caption below the photo of J. Robert Cade was altered so that he was referred to as a "developer" of Gatorade instead of as one of the "inventors."

The CNBC article from 3 Dec 2008 cited as part of these edits is in fact reliable--it was written by the author of the book on the history of Gatorade; however this source actually refutes the claims made in edit #1 and #2. This news article notes that "The idea of essentially sweetening a salt pill in water and giving it to athletes was not, in fact, novel. At the time, Rutgers was drinking a concoction called Sportade, but it failed partly because the team wasn't good...The reason Gatorade was successful was because the year it was invented the Gators were as good as they've ever been—that added to the mystique of it all."

This separate CNBC article, published earlier in the day on 3 Dec 2008, notes that "The story probably came from a jokester who put it up on Wikipedia. Then, a site called the history of branding, which doesn’t even exist anymore, put it on their site and then it hit all the message boards and voila–a creation becomes a fact." A conversation on this subject occurred at Talk:Florida_State_University#Seminole_Firewater in 2009, and it appears that attempts have been made sporadically to spread this unsubstantiated misinformation across several Wikipedia articles.

Based on the substantive evidence in reliable sources, I propose that the text added in edit #1 and #2 be reverted--though I feel it is only appropriate to establish consensus. Would others kindly respond and/or update the article accordingly? Cheers, Jeff Bedford (talk) 20:48, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Your reason for deletion is sound, based on the sources you stated and the research you have done on the subject. Reliable sources trump hearsay. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 05:28, 17 August 2011 (UTC)