The frozen carbonated beverage was first invented in 1959 by a Kansas hamburger stall owner. Using an automobile air conditioner, he created a sophisticated piece of equipment that would freeze a carbonated soft drink and serve it in a sherbet-like form that could be sipped through a straw.
7-Eleven began selling Slurpee, then called Icee, in its stores in the United States in 1965.
The Slurpee name was created in May 1967 during a brainstorming session of the Stanford Agency, 7-Eleven stores' in-house agency. While drinking the product through a straw, agency director Bob Stanford commented that it made a "slurp" sound coming through the straw.
Since its introduction in 1965, more than 6 billion Slurpee drinks have been sold, just about enough for every person on the planet to have slurped. That’s also enough to circle the Earth almost eight times!