Borrowing the word Fresca (meaning "fresh") from Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, it was introduced in the United States in 1966.

In 1969, the company applied for a trademark for "Fresca" as a trade name for "soft drinks and syrups and concentrates for making same".

The Coca-Cola Company described the original Fresca soft drink formula as "a citrus-based, sugar free product - a soft drink, a low-calorie beverage, a mixer, all in one" and said the Fresca name was picked because the word is "short, memorable and distinctive".

Since its introduction,[6] Fresca has been marketed in the United States as a sugar-free, citrus (lime and grapefruit) flavored diet soft drink.

By March 1967, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. forecast increasing profits for Coca-Cola, saying "we believe Fresca... may be the nation's number three soft drink by the end of the year".

[14][15] F. William Free, creative director of the Marschalk Company advertising agency, created the initial marketing campaign for Fresca, branding the soda "the 'Blizzard of Flavor'.

[17] The "Blizzard" campaign included a major market, full color pre-print newspaper advertising program reported to have cost "over a million dollars" which launched in the spring of 1967.

The third was named "Blizzard Girls" which featured "The Fresca Girls", models dressed in fur-trimmed parkas with hoods, photographed drinking Fresca in falling snow while riding a zebra, a miniature car, a Vespa scooter and walking a Saint Bernard.

F. William Free orchestrated an elaborate formal marketing debut on February 7, 1967, held at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York city's Seagram's building.

[23] David Plotz, former editor of online magazine Slate and founder and CEO of the local-news podcast network, City Cast is said to be "a hard-core addict of the citrus-flavored soft drink" Fresca.

[24] Fresca is prominently featured in the superhero television series The Boys, where it is the favored drink of the cultish Church of the Collective, leading to fan speculation as to its potential meaning.

[25][26][27] It was eventually revealed that the show's writers found it "hilarious" that cult members would drink Fresca, and it just became a running gag with no deeper meaning.

[28][29][30][31] Fresca was originally marketed in the United States as a sugar-free, citrus (lime and grapefruit) flavored diet soft drink.

According to The Coca-Cola Company, in 1980 an improved Fresca formulation, supported by new packaging, brand graphics and advertising, reached full national availability.

The brand refresh was supported by "the most extensive sampling program ever conducted for a soft drink product".

This was a success but is instead sold as the Citrus flavor in Coca-Cola's Fanta line in areas with large Hispanic populations.

Coca-Cola announced revamped packaging again in 2018 along with a new marketing campaign targeted towards millennials – the first Fresca advertising since 2008 – with the stated intention of "reeling in a new generation of drinkers unfamiliar with the brand".