77

Orangina

In the 1920s, Dr. Trigo, a pharmacist in Valencia, Spain

developed an orange juice concentrate which he put in a

bottle that looked like an orange. He called it

“

Naranjina

”

(little orange). When he attended a fair in Marseilles, he

met Leon Beton to whom he sold his idea. Leon grew

oranges in Algeria and introduced the product in 1936 in

Boufarik with the name Frenchified to Orangina. The

product was an instant success in Algeria. In 1951 Jean-

Claude Beton created Compagnie Française des Produits

Orangina to bring Orangina to the French market for the

first time.

The artist Bernard Villemot created a poster in 1953

showing an orange peel parasol (below left). The powerful

advertising was a smashing success and Orangina sales

took off. The blue background became a standard in Orangina advertising. The

poster below right was created by Villemot in 1955.