Dr. Pepper is the oldest soda brand in America, at least among those that still survive. As such, it’s long been in the state of bitter rivalry with Coca Cola. Unlike these two, Dr. Pepper has had a large variety of flavors ever since its inception in the later 19^th century. The original is a peculiar mix of spicy flavors.

Meaning and History

The drink was introduced in 1885 in Texas. It was initially made by the pharmacist Charles Alderton, although he did not create the name. The name itself refers to the drink’s slightly spicy taste, as well as its medicinal qualities. It was marketed as health-improving for the longest time, although it wasn’t ever proven.

1885 – 1954

The initial logo was simply the brand’s name written in twisting cursive handwriting. Usually, they painted it white and put it against a red background, which is where this color palette originated.

1954 – 1956

The second logo was a red streak of paint with ‘Dr. Pepper’ written on it in white thick letters (not cursive this time). Above, they usually put the word ‘drink’ in smaller, red letters.

1956 – 1958

It’s mostly the same, except they put the entire thing onto a circle and outline it in red.

1958 – 1960

By 1958, the brand name was instead put onto a white circle. The style of writing also changed to a more elegant serif. The red letters were arranged haphazardly and not on the same level.

1960 – 1960

For this interim logo, they decided to try the same thing, but reverse the colors: the text became white, and the circle turned red.

1960 – 1963

The circle for this one was turned into a wide oval, which meant the writing had to be arranged in one line.

1963 – 1967

The 1963 design is a return to the circular 1960 logo, but with a small addition of a wide golden arrow below.

1967 – 1971

Once more, they’ve taken the circle logo, but this time put it onto a vertical white half-circle, which was then for its part put onto a red rectangle. That’s also how they decorated their cans.

1971 – 1984

It’s pretty much the old red circle logo, except squat and wide. The letters are thick and bolder in this version.

1984 – 1990

This one’s strange. They took a big dark red rectangle with a diagonal paler line piercing its right half. On it, they’ve put the white ‘Dr. Pepper’ inscription of largely the same style as the one they introduced in 1971. In the left top corner, they’ve added the previous logo itself, but smaller.

1990 – 1997

In 1990, they decided to remove the secondary logo from above and cut most of the vacant space.

1997 – 2005

The 1997 logo was cut on the sides even more, so the shape was now closer to the square. They slightly altered most of the logo: the letters became sharper, the line was turned into a stroke of paint, and the background was no sprinkled with what was supposed to be red bubbles (the same color as the line).

2005 – 2015

The inscription was taken out of the rectangle where it was since the 80s. Instead, they put it onto a red oval of pretty much the same color. Then, they surrounded it with curvy shapes of the same color that really look like the peelings of the bigger figure. Oh, and they added the little ‘est. 1885’ writing below.

2015 – today

Now, this is basically the written parts of the previous logo, except written in the dark red color on the oval and with an additional spin that comes out of the ‘P’s head.

Emblem and Symbol

In addition to the original emblem, the cans of Dr. Pepper have additional elements depending on the flavor or variation of the drink. For instance, cherry flavor has ‘Cherry’ written right below the main emblem, and sugar-free is given a smaller version of a big logo with the word ‘Zero’ on it.