It’s been almost a year since the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group filed trademarks for 10-calorie versions of several of its soft drink brands, and now the company has finally gotten around to testing five of them — 7-Up, RC, Sunkist, A&W, and Canada Dry — in three different areas around the country.

According to AdAge, the so-called mid-calorie drinks are now available in Columbus, OH, Des Moines, and central Pennsylvania.

The company has been having some success with 10-calorie (well, sorta) Dr. Pepper Ten, which has been advertised as just for those of us with Y chromosomes. But it looks like the other “Ten” varieties will look for a wider market than just dudes.

A rep for Dr. Pepper Snapple tells AdAge that the decision to market to all genders isn’t in response to the small backlash against Dr. Pepper Ten’s “It’s Not For Women” campaign, but because these five brands appeal pretty much equally to men and women.

“The objective of bringing this platform to market is to focus on folks who are regular carbonated soft-drink users but have cut back on frequency of consumption,” the brand manager for 7-Up explains. “Consumption has dipped over the past few years. This is an opportunity to bring incremental business to the individual trademarks under the Ten platform.”

The tests will continue through midyear, at which point the company will decide whether or not to roll these five Ten brands out nationwide.

Five More Join Midcal ‘Ten’ Lineup in Bid to Lure Back Soda Drinkers [AdAge.com]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.