Before it was a lunchbox drink with a cartoon mascot, Hawaiian Punch was a five-juice syrup mixed up in a converted garage for ice cream parlours, not children.
Invented in a Fullerton garage
Hawaiian Punch was created in 1934 by A.W. Leo, Tom Yeats and Ralph Harrison, working out of a converted garage in Fullerton, California. Trading as the Pacific Citrus Product Company, they sold it as "Leo's Hawaiian Punch" — a blend of five fruit juices, including orange, pineapple, passion fruit, guava and papaya.
From soda-fountain syrup to supermarket drink
For its first decade or so, Hawaiian Punch wasn't a drink at all in the way people know it today — it was sold wholesale in gallon glass jugs to ice cream parlours and soda fountains as a syrup topping. Customers who mixed it with water discovered it made a good drink in its own right, but the company didn't formally start selling it that way until Reuben P. Hughes and a group of investors bought the business in 1946 and began marketing both syrup and ready-to-drink versions to grocery stores.
Meet Punchy
The brand's best-known feature arrived decades later: in 1962, the Atherton-Privett advertising agency created a campaign built around a red-nosed cartoon character named Punchy, designed by cartoonist Joe Malerba. His catchphrase — "How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?" — became one of the most recognisable lines in American soft drink advertising, and Punchy has remained the brand's mascot ever since.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented Hawaiian Punch?
Hawaiian Punch was invented in 1934 by A.W. Leo, Tom Yeats and Ralph Harrison in a converted garage in Fullerton, California, originally sold as "Leo's Hawaiian Punch" through the Pacific Citrus Product Company.
Was Hawaiian Punch originally a drink?
No — it started life as a syrup topping for ice cream at soda fountains, made from five fruit juices including orange, pineapple, passion fruit, guava and papaya. It wasn't widely sold as a ready-to-drink punch until new owners took over the company in 1946.
Who is Punchy, the Hawaiian Punch mascot?
Punchy is the red-nosed cartoon mascot created for a 1962 advertising campaign by the Atherton-Privett agency, designed by cartoonist Joe Malerba, and famous for the catchphrase "How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?"