Could've had a V8? There's more behind this brand than a catchy slogan.
Here's what you could've, would've, and should've known about the iconic vegetable juice.
V8 Vegetable Juice dates back all the way to 1933,
when William Gilbert Peacock and his son wanted a sustainable way to make sure
they and others could get essential foods and nutrients during the Great Depression.
The pair began hand-blending an assortment of vegetables together in their basement
to see what they could create, and a veggie-based drink was born. Peacock enlisted the help of
Frank Constable to manufacture the drink for Peacock's company, New England Products Company.
The war-driven era led to poverty for many,
and Peacock's vegetable juice became a hit with families who had little to spend on food.
Peacock's veggie juice quickly became a staple in pantries across the country
because it included ingredients families relied on for daily nutrition.
V8 Vegetable Juice — although a seemingly perfect name for the veggie-based drink — hasn't
always been called by the name. When Peacock and Constable first began manufacturing and marketing
the product, they called it Vege-min. At the time, tomato made up the overwhelming majority of the
drink, so V8 wouldn't have made much sense. It wasn't until 1948 when the Campbell Soup Company
took over the drink brand that its name officially became V8 Vegetable Juice, or V8 for short.
They also tried the name "Vege-min 8" after Constable came up with the
new recipe including tomato and seven other vegetables. Later,
he decided to go with V8 Vegetable Cocktail Juice. Constable thought the name V8 made
sense because the drink was popular and powerful, like a vehicle's V8 engine.
"I was a stand up tomato! A juicy, sexy beefsteak tomato! No one does vegetables like me,
I did an evening of vegetables on broadway! I did the best tomato, the best cucumber -"
Back when William Gilbert Peacock and his son experimented with the
original V8 formula in their basement, the drink was almost solely made of tomatoes.
During the Great Depression, tomatoes were a garden staple for many farmers
because of their hardiness and ability to grow quickly. Depression-era families turned to canning
their own tomatoes or turning them into soups to hang onto their produce as long as possible.
Peacock took advantage of the fast-producing crop to transform it into a drinkable
version that gave people an easy, affordable way to get their nutrients.
The drink formula did eventually expand to include seven more vegetables that became
part of the staple list of eight primary ingredients — hence the
name V8. Campbell's lists the primary veggies as orange and purple carrots,
beets, spinach, sweet potatoes, watercress, and celery. Additionally, the brand emphasizes,
"Many more unique vegetables are used to create amazingly tasty drinks!"
Of course, like many plant-based food and drink products on the market, it's not just vegetables
that go into a can of V8. Other ingredients include Vitamins C and A, salt, citric acid,
and natural flavors. Other versions of V8, like its vegetable and fruit blend juices and energy
and hydration drinks, also contain various fruits, like blueberries, mangoes, and pomegranates.
One thing Campbell's doesn't add to its V8 vegetable drinks?
Sugar. According to Frances Stern Dietetic Intern Caitlin Wong,
"The important thing to note about V8 Juice is that it is 100% juice with no added sugars. The
8 grams of sugar that are in every serving of V8 occur naturally in the vegetables."
While more than half the calories of a serving of V8 juice come from these natural sugars,
Wong says that it also contains a good amount of beneficial fiber, protein, and vitamins.
Of its eight primary ingredients,
V8's celery potentially has the longest and most interesting history.
As Cambpell's explains, back in 1880, Jake Willbrandt's family started growing celery
on a three-acre farm. Jake now owns the farm, which has expanded to 110 acres
and added sweet corn to its specialties. Jake's great-grandfather began growing the
celery used in the original V8 drinks since their inception in the 1940s and continued
supplying the Campbell Soup Company with celery for V8 once the brand took over.
The farm's celery growing begins in February each year in greenhouses, moving into fields
starting in mid-April. Production yields about 9 million pounds of the crop annually,
with a hefty portion going straight into V8 cans across the nation. According to Willbrandt,
"We hand-cut 95 percent of the harvest, and the trimmings […] are put aside for V8. It gives you
a lot of pride to grow a quality product. I love the freedom to have my family here,
too. My kids work on the transplanters, and they take pride in what they've done."
Willbrandt adds that, although his kids dislike veggies,
V8 juice is a daily staple in their household.
"Mommy's having a french fry. Yes she is. Yes she is-"
"Could've had a V8"
Despite its usage of healthy vegetables and its reputation as a health-focused drink,
V8 may not be as good for you as you think. According to nutritionist Annette Washington,
V8 is better than a lot of other drinks you might decide to grab,
like a sugar-laden iced coffee. However, says Washington,
"The problem with V8 is that when you juice fruits and vegetables,
you are losing some of the 'good stuff' like fiber, and with bottled juices,
you end up getting extra things like added sugars and sodium."
And sodium is definitely an issue for the original V8 drink. One 8-ounce serving of V8 original
contains 640 milligrams of salt. According to Medical News Today, that's close to 28%
of the recommended maximum intake of salt per day. The FDA warns that excessive salt intake
can lead to high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Fortunately, V8 has added a low-sodium version of its popular drink to its lineup, which has
two-thirds less sodium than the original formula, at just 140 mg per serving. And, the low-sodium
drink keeps the same amount of all the other good stuff in tact, like Vitamin A and Vitamin C.
"How'd you do that?"
"Uh, work out? Plenty of rest? You know, eat your green vegetables!"
V8 can be a good way of hitting your daily servings of green vegetables,
but some experts agree that it shouldn't be the only way you do it. According to the National
Center for Health Research, eating fruits and veggies is usually the better option.
Scientific evidence doesn't tend to prove that drinking vegetables provides the same health
benefits as eating them. Additionally, it's not good to use vegetable juices like V8 as
meal replacements to lose weight, as it doesn't give our bodies the balanced nutrients we need.
However, drinks like V8 can be used as part of a healthy diet.
Registered dietician Katherine Zeratsky explained to the Mayo Clinic,
"Vegetable juice can be an easy way to increase the amount of vegetables in your diet,
but you shouldn't routinely use it to replace whole vegetables."
While the recommendation for most adults is 2 ½ cups of vegetables daily, some adults may need
more depending on their health and other factors, and veggie drinks can help them
achieve that. According to Zeratsky, vegetable juice can be a suitable addition to a diet,
but she points out that the choices should be all vegetable juice that's low in sodium.
So, if you do need a daily boost of V8, try to stick with the low-sodium version.
Back in the 1950s, V8 vegetable juice was in its prime. The drink began spiking in popularity
during World War II but continued as the post-war economy picked up speed. During this time,
notable figures appeared in television and print ads to promote V8. Rhonda Fleming,
Shirley Temple, and Fred MacMurray were just a few who signed on to market the beloved drink.
Ronald Reagan was also one of the most famous faces ever to grace a V8 ad.
In 1951, V8 launched a print campaign with
then-actor Reagan as its spokesperson, holding up "V"-shaped fingers alongside a comic strip.
It's clear that V8 was a popular product for celebrities to promote, but it wasn't just
public figures who helped market the vegetable juice for several decades.
In 2014, "Wheel of Fortune" hopped on, too, during an eight-week sponsored
campaign of the game's bonus round. Yup — co-hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White spent
two months partnering with Campbell's and V8 as part of dual-branded sweepstakes.
The campaign included an online game,
fun facts and trivia about V8, V8-sponsored wheel prizes, and a couple of cash wheel wedges.
And, one week during the campaign focused specifically on the online game,
during which viewers would watch for a puzzle with an eight-letter word containing a "V." Executive
producer of "Wheel of Fortune" Harry Friedman shared his thoughts about the partnership:
"V8 is an iconic 'feel-good' product that is a great fit
for our all-American family-friendly show."
"Extra Bacon, no lettuce, no tomato"
"That's me"
"Could've had a V8"
You might not be wrong if you've ever thought that V8 vegetable juice is a drink targeting
older generations. According to 2018 data from "Statista," V8's most popular
age group is the 50-64-year-old crowd, with close to one-quarter of 4,180 respondents falling into
the range. Not too far behind at 18.44% of respondents were people aged 30-49 years old.
Only 10.39% of respondents in the 18-29-year-old age range drank V8 within the four weeks prior.
In the 1970s, the company began an advertising campaign with
"I could've had a V8!" as its slogan. In the television ads, adults knocked themselves
on the head after realizing that V8 was a better choice for them than whatever they
were drinking or snacking on, like coffee and chips. Every head bump was quickly followed by,
"I could've had a V8!"
In 2011, Campbell's perked up its V8 brand with the addition of new products:
V8 V-FUSION +ENERGY and V8 Energy Shots. Both products targeted the
younger crowd most likely to drink energy drinks. According to Campbell's,
"The new beverages provide healthier alternatives to most energy drinks on the market today,
and are made with ingredients that people know and trust. Each nutritious beverage provides one
combined serving of vegetables and fruit as well as a natural energy boost from green tea extract."
Unlike other energy drinks hitting store shelves, V8 V-FUSION
+ENERGY offered a relatively low amount of caffeine, only 80 milligrams per serving,
and just 50 calories per serving. The small energy shots also came packed with vitamins,
like A, B6, and B12, and included nine vegetables and fruits.
2018 brought another new product to the lineup: the plant-based V8 +HYDRATE with just 45 calories
and a full serving of vegetables in each can. Campbell's left all the stuff out
that health-conscious consumers are often worried about, too, like GMOs and artificial sweeteners.
In a press release, Chief Marketing Officer of Campbell Soup Company Diego Palmieri said,
"As the vegetable nutrition experts for over 80 years, we know our consumers are seeking to
live healthier lifestyles and turning to products that contain added nutrients and functionality.
Whether you're on the go, or just finishing your work-out, V8 +HYDRATE brings a full-suite
of benefits to the table through the inherent goodness of sweet potatoes."
While Campbell's has continued to push the boundaries of vegetable juice to appeal to
different demographics, not all of its products have fared well on the market.
In late 2014, the company added a line of protein shakes and bars,
which seemed like a natural fit for its health-forward brand image.
In a press release, Campbell's Associate Brand Manager Kylee Rudd explained that customers
wanted a healthier version of the protein products currently on grocery store shelves.
However, the products lasted only slightly over one year before Campbell's pulled them.
CEO Denise Morrison believes the biggest problem was that the V8 products weren't different
enough to compete in such a cluttered product space. Since discontinuing the
protein shakes and bars, Campbell's has focused solely on V8's drink products,
including the original vegetable drink, V8 Fruit and Vegetable Blends, V8 +ENERGY, and V8 +HYDRATE.
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