Sego (diet drink)
Sego was a diet drink formally marketed by Pet, Inc. (at the time Pet Milk) as Sego Liquid Diet Food. Introduced in 1961[1] and selling for approximately 25¢ each,[2] Sego sales registered $22 million to the company's Milk Products Division by 1965.[1]
The name Sego derived from a Salt Lake City-based company, Sego Milk Products Company, that Pet Milk had purchased in 1925.[1]
Sold in 10 ounce cans,[3] before the advent of aluminum cans or cans with pull tabs, the beverages were available in flavors including Chocolate, Chocolate Malt, Vanilla, Banana and Orange[3] — each providing 900 calories.[4] Marketed under the taglines "See the calories go with Sego" and "Sego, it's Great for you Ego," Pet advertised the drinks as having 10% more protein than other 900 calorie foods, asserting that protein "helps control hunger."[3] Pet Milk subsequently offered Sego branded pudding and soup[5] — and, later still, diet bars.
By 1961, there were more than 100 meal replacement products on the U.S. market,[5] and Sego competed with such products Metrecal and Figurines by Pillsbury,"[5] and was ultimately superceded in the market place with such liquid diet drinks as Slimfast.
In the 2010 book The Hundred Year Diet, author Susan Yager called Sego "baby forumla mixed water and a poor substitute for food.",[5]
Noted actress Tippi Hedren was discovered by Alfred Hitchcock while shooting a television commercial for Sego on the Today Show.[6] Hedren later described the spot as "a story line; it wasn't just holding up a product and talking about it. It was a story and apparently he (Hitchcock) saw it."[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Pet Incorporated". Harvard University, Baker Library, Lehman Brothers Collection.
- ^ "Lucky Hiram's Grocery Store ad" (PDF). The Torrance Herald, November 1, 1962.
- ^ a b c "1962 Sego Advertisement, Pet Milk". Life Magazine, Feb 2, 1962.
- ^ "1962 Sego Advertisement, Pet Milk". Life Magazine, Jul 27, 1962.
- ^ a b c d "The Hundred Year Diet: America's Voracious Appetite for Losing Weight, Susan Yager, p. 93". Rodale Books (May 11, 2010).
- ^ "Tippi Hedren". Independent Film Quarterly, Briege McGarrity.
- ^ "The Birds (1963)". Joe & Bob Briggs.