Snapple

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Snapple is a multi-million dollar beverage company based in Rye Brook, New York that produces a variety of teas and fruit drinks which are sold in glass bottles, soda-style cans, and plastic bottles. Snapple was founded by Hyman Golden, Arnold Greenberg and Leonard Marsh in Valley Stream, New York on Long Island in 1972. The word "Snapple" is derived from a carbonated apple soda.^{[citation needed]} Currently, there are four different types of Snapple: Tea (Diet and Regular), Juice Drinks, Lemonade as well as their own brand of bottled water.

Snapple's brand slogan is "Made from the best stuff on Earth."

An assortment of Snapple flavors.

1 History
2 Advertising/Spokespersons
3 Flavors
- 3.1 Elements
- 3.2 Discontinued Flavors
4 Health concerns
5 Snapple and education
6 Snapple Caps
- 6.1 Incorrect facts
7 Rumours and Myths
8 In popular culture
9 Snapple Theater Center
10 External links
11 References

[edit] History

Snapple first started in 1949 by the Espaillat Family in Moca, Dominican Republic then Hyman Golden, Arnold Greenberg and Leonard Marsh expanded Snapple brand in 1972.^[1] Initially an apple soda was the single product offered, leading to the name Snapple. Some of Snapple's earliest expansions were to introduce new soda flavors in 16 ounce glass bottles. These flavors included French Cherry, Tru Rootbeer, Vanilla Creme, and Summer Peach. Soon, fruit drinks were introduced to health clubs and the company created the name The Unadulterated Food Corporation, later changing it to The Snapple Beverage Corporation.^[2] In 1987, the iced tea flavor was introduced and a year later the company expanded distribution into New England and California. Wendy the Snapple Lady was also introduced to the advertising team as a straight-talking, average, American spokesperson. After sales reached into the tens of millions and started quadrupling every year, the original founders sold the company to a Boston investment firm and the company went public.In 1994, the Snapple Corporation was sold to Quaker Oats, which dropped both Howard Stern and Wendy the Snapple Lady as spokespersons. Quaker later sold Snapple to Triarc in 1997 for $300 million, who reintroduced Stern and Wendy^{[citation needed]}. The company was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes in 2000 and folded into Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (now Dr Pepper Snapple Group) in early 2006. In 2006, a limited edition of Snapple named "Snapple Pie" hit stores. Also in 2006, Snapple introduced "Snapple Asian Tea", "Snapple Green Tea", and "Snapple Red Tea", while 2007 brought about "Snapple Black Tea" and Snapple "100% Natural" flavors such as kiwi-pear and orange-mangosteen.

[edit] Advertising/Spokespersons

In the early 1990s, radio commentator Rush Limbaugh was used as a celebrity endorser, as was Howard Stern.

In 1993 Wendy Kaufman, an employee for the Snapple corporation, was recruited to be the commercial spokesperson for the drink...partly because she liked to answer letters about products written to the company. Kaufman's advertisements centered around her reading letters out loud and delivering comedic responses. Kaufman was dubbed "The Snapple Lady." The commercials ran until 1994 when she was unceremoniously fired from the company, upon the company's sale to Quaker Oats for $1.7 Billion.^[3] Quaker Oats then sold Snapple for $300 million to Triarc, which reinstated Kaufman as the Snapple Lady in 1997.^[3]

[edit] Flavors

Teas^[4]

Lemon Tea
Caffeine Free Lemon Tea
Just Plain Tea Unsweetened
Out of the Blue-Berry
Raspberry Tea
Peach Tea
GuavAmazing Tea
Lime Green Tea
White Tea-Green Apple (soon to be replaced by Cherry)
White Tea-Nectarine
White Tea-Raspberry
Green Tea
Green Tea-Mango
Green Tea-Asian Pear
Green Tea- Limon (replacing Lime Green Tea)
Wild 'Bout Berries
Red Tea-Acai Mixed Berry
Red Tea- Mandarin Tangerine
Red Tea-Peach Pomegranate
Black Tea-Earl Grey
Black Tea-Orange Pekoe
Black Tea-English Breakfast
Chai Tea- Apple Serenade (coming 2008)
Chai Tea- Kiwi Relaxation (coming 2008)
Chai Tea- Orange Revitalization (coming 2008)

Lemonade^[5]

Lemonade Iced Tea
Lemonade
Pink Lemonade

Diet^[6]

Diet Lemon Tea
Diet Lime Green Tea
Diet Peach Tea
Diet Green Apple Tea
Diet Raspberry Tea
Diet Out of the Blue-Berry Tea
Diet Plum-A-Granate Tea
Diet Lemonade Iced Tea
Diet Green Tea
Diet Green Tea Lemonade
Diet Green Tea-Mango
Diet Green Tea-Asian Pear
Diet Green Tea- Limon (replacing Lime Green Tea)
Diet Cranberry Raspberry
Diet Kiwi Strawberry
Diet Snapple Apple (soon to be replaced with Diet Pineapple-Passion Fruit Power)
Diet GuavAmazing Tea
Diet Orange Carrot
Diet Pink Lemonade

Juice Drinks^[7]

Snapricot Orange
Snapple Apple (being replaced with Pineapple-Passion Fruit Power in late 2008)
Cranberry Raspberry
Fruit Punch
Green Apple
Blueberry
Grapeade
Kiwi Strawberry
Mango Madness
Orangeade
Pineapple-Passion Fruit Power
Summer Peach (seasonal)
Acai Blackberry
Pomegranate-Raspberry

Kosher^[8]

Caffeine Free Tea
Cranberry Raspberry
Cranberry Twist
Diet Cranberry Raspberry
Diet Kiwi Strawberry
Diet Lime Green Tea
Diet Orange Carrot
Diet Peach Tea
Diet Pink Lemonade
Diet Raspberry Tea
Diet Ruby Red
Just Plain Tea-Unsweetened
Kiwi Strawberry
Lemon Tea
Lemonade
Lemonade Iced Tea
Lime Green Tea
Mango Madness
Mint Tea
Orangeade
Peach Tea
Pink Lemonade
Raspberry Tea
Ruby Red
Diet Lemon Tea
Snapple Apple
Snapricot Orange
Very Cherry Tea
Very Very Very Berry

[edit] Elements

In 1999, Snapple released a set of drinks under the "Elements" brand. These new drinks have names based on nature, and are marketed as all natural energy drinks. The original bottles were made from clear glass, but they now come in aluminum bottles. They also have amounts of Vitamin B, Caffeine, Ginseng, and Taurine.

Current Flavors

Metal - Blood Orange
Venom - Citrus
Fire - Dragonfruit
Rain - Agave Cactus
Subzero - Siberian Cherry
Meteor - Tangelo
Altitude- Persimmon
Spark - Mandarin Carrot
Sun - Juiced Berry Banana
Turbulence - Shredded Lemon
Atomic - Jacked Apple
Velocity- Grapefruit Cranberry
Diet Air - Prickly Peach
Diet Ice - Ruby Tangelo

Discontinued Flavors

Volcano- Indigo Grape
Gravity- Carrot Infusion
Earth - Grape Cranberry
Lightning - Ginseng Black Tea
Moon - Green Tea
Sky - Passion Fruit
Voltage - Citron
Sun - Starfruit Orange
Infusion - Mango Tangerine

[edit] Discontinued Flavors

According to Snapple's website, there are 69 discontinued Snapple flavors, many of which were part of unsuccessful franchises such as: Snapple Sodas, Refreshers, and Seltzers. These discontinued flavors include Cactus Tea, Sun Tea, Mint Tea, Sweet Tea, Strawberry Tea, Pink Grapefruit (part of a line of 100% juice drinks), Grape Watermelon, Blueberry Tea, Ralph's Cantaloupe Cocktail, Bali Blast, Samoan Splash (all four were regular juice drinks) and diet Mango Madness. Snapple sodas were popular in the northeast US from 1983 until they were discontinued in the late-1990s because they were believed to give headaches^{[citation needed]} . The sodas came in a glass bottle with a metal (later a plastic) cap and included such flavors as Clear Cola (similar to Crystal Pepsi but marketed years before), Diet Lemon Lime, Ginger Ale, Jamaican Ginger Beer, Kiwi Peach, Passion Supreme, Peach Melba, Raspberry Royale, Strawberry, Cherry Lime Rickey, Kiwi Strawberry, French Cherry, Creme d'Vanilla, Creme d'Chocolate, and Tru Root Beer (the latter three were clear). The last six are not mentioned on Snapple's list of 68 discontinued flavors, which means there are actually at least 74 discontinued flavors. The only soda to survive as a regular drink is Kiwi Strawberry, which is currently sold in a non-carbonated form.

In 2000, Snapple Jelly Beans were produced for a few years, until discontinuation.

[edit] Health concerns

Most of the Snapple products contain high-fructose corn syrup.^[9] For example, one bottle of the Snapple juice drink "Cranberry Raspberry" contains 2 servings of 27 grams of sugar (54 grams) -- because the nutrition facts are based on 8 oz (50% bottle) instead of 16 oz. All of the glass bottles of Snapple present the nutrition information this way. ^[10]^[11] The amount of sugar is nearly the same as (and sometimes, greater than) that of soda^[12].

Additionally, Diet Snapple products contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener that has raised health concerns.

[edit] Snapple and education

In October 2003, Snapple began its sponsorship of the New York City school system. Snapple vending machines were placed ubiquitously -- and exclusively -- throughout schools in the City. Snapple was able to acquire the contract in part because New York City officials did not want to encourage the consumption of sodas, which have been linked to childhood obesity and are generally considered unhealthy. The Snapple juices are marketed under the 100% Juiced label. The flavors available under this brand include Green Apple, Fruit Punch, Melon Berry, Grape, Orange Mango, and Strawberry Lime. The juice drinks are fortified with vitamins and minerals. However, they still contain more sugar (41 grams) than a 12-ounce container of Coca Cola (39 grams).^[12]

The deal also gave Snapple exclusive rights to sell its drinks in vending machines on all New York City properties starting in January 2004. Snapple paid the City $106 million for the rights and agreed to spend $60 million more to marketing and promotion over the length of the five-year contract^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Snapple Caps

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Snapple is also known for putting alleged facts on the inside of the bottle caps. Each "Real Fact" (as they are called) is available on their website.^[13]

It is easy to recognize the different varieties because each type of drink has a differently colored cap:

Teas: Blue caps
Diets: White caps
Juice drinks: Green caps
Lemonades: Yellow caps
Special Contests: Red caps, Silver caps
White Teas: Silver caps
Red/Green Teas: Brushed metal colored caps

[edit] Incorrect facts

Several of the facts on Snapple caps have been found to be incorrect or out of date, including:

#1 "A goldfish's attention span is three seconds." This theory was tested by Discovery's MythBusters. The experiment consisted of training several goldfish to complete a maze. They concluded that a goldfish's attention span and memory retention lasts well over 3 seconds.
#5 "Camels have three eyelids". In fact they have six (three per eye).
#31 “The average human will eat an average of eight spiders while sleeping.” This statistic was made up in 1993 as an example of the absurd things people will believe simply because they come across them on the internet, as uncovered by Snopes^[14].
#36 "A duck's quack doesn't echo" Tested by Snopes and Mythbusters. Both tests concluded that a duck's quack does echo but is hard to distinguish.

^[15]

#69 "Caller ID is illegal in California." There is no law against Caller ID in the state, though there were lengthy debates about legalizing it in the early 90's.^[16]
#77 "No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times." This myth was put to the test by the Discovery Channel show MythBusters, which folded a piece of paper 11 times. The piece of paper used in MythBusters was an oversized piece of paper and thinner than a standard 8.5"x11" inch piece of paper.^[17]
#114 "The oldest known animal was a tortoise, which lived to be 152 years old" Currently the oldest living animal, a tortoise named Tu'i Malila, lived to be 188 years old.^[18]
#145 "Lake Superior is the world's largest lake." The Caspian Sea is considered the largest lake, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake by surface area. The largest freshwater lake by volume is Lake Baikal in Siberia.
#146 "The smallest county in America is New York County, better known as Manhattan." Falls Church, Virginia, is the smallest functional county at 2.0 square miles. (Kalawao County, Hawaii is also smaller but is technically part of Oceania, and not either of the American continents^[19])
#162 "The temp. of the sun can reach 15 million degrees F." The core reaches temperatures of 25 million degrees F and the surface reaches only 10,000 degrees F, either way it's wrong.
#163 "The first penny had the motto 'Mind your own business.'" is actually false. The first penny has the motto "Mind your business".
#171 "The most sensitive parts of the body are the mouth and fingertips". The eyeballs have more nerve endings than all of these.
#180 "The first VCR was made in 1956 and was the size of a piano." The first VTR (Video Tape Recorder) was made in 1956. VCR's (video cassette recorders) came along in the 1970s.
#334 "Thomas Edison coined the word "hello" and introduced it as a way to answer the phone." The word "hello" was used in print in Roughing It by Mark Twain in 1872, while the telephone was invented in 1876.^[20]
#383 "Mount Katahdin in Maine is the first place in the U.S. to get sunlight each morning." According to the National Park Service, Cadillac Mountain is the first place in Maine to see the sunrise during the winter, while Mars Hill is the first in the summer. The difference between sunrises on Cadillac, Mars Hill, and in Lubec, Maine - the easternmost town in the United States - is generally less than one-half second.

[edit] Rumours and Myths

Like many popular brands, Snapple has had urban myths and false rumors occasionally plague its brand. In 1992, rumors began to spread that Snapple was a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and Operation Rescue. The reasoning for this was the portrayal of a ship from the Boston Tea Party, which was mistakenly believed to actually be a slave ship.

Snapple also fell victim to the old rumor that the small "K" was either a representation of the Klan, or of an imagined "Jewish Tax" (augmented by the fact that all three founders were Jewish). The "K" on the products actually meant that they were certified kosher.^[21]

Snapple initially tried to quell these rumors quietly, but ultimately had to launch a media campaign to squash them, pointing out it would be bad for business to support controversial issues in such a way as the rumors implied. Through a media campaign with the NAACP, Snapple successfully fought back these rumors, although occasionally they are still brought up as fact.^[22]

[edit] In popular culture

The NBC comedy show 30 Rock features intentionally flagrant promotion of Snapple in the episode Jack-tor as a parody of "product integration". Careful viewing of the credits shows that Snapple does, in fact, give promotional consideration to the show.

Rapper The Game references Belvedere Vodka and the Snapple flavor Go Bananas as his drink of choice in the title track of his second album, Doctor's Advocate.

Alternative hip-hop group Digable Planets references Snapple numerous times on their 1993 album, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space).

Comedian Mike Birbiglia references Snapple in one of his acts, saying that if the drug dealers outside of his house sold Snapple, they would get a lot of business from him.

In the animated show, The Boondocks, Huey calls Snapple "The White Man's Poison" because high fructose corn syrup is used as an ingredient.

In an episode of HBO's The Sopranos, the character Bobby Baccala tells his overweight son to "lay off the Snapple." The Soprano family are also often seen drinking Snapple.

In an episode of NBC's Seinfeld, entitled The Visa, Elaine offers Babu's brother a Snapple to which he replies, "No. Too fruity." During the fourth season, in which this episode appears, various other characters are offered Snapple, the repetition of the word becoming a small running joke.

In the tv series Roswell (Roswell High), one of the four alien main characters, Michael Guerin, is fired from his job as a security guard for stealing bottles of Peach Snapple.

Rapper Ras Kass references the brand on "Anything Goes," off of his debut album, Soul on Ice.

[edit] Snapple Theater Center

In 2006, Snapple opened the Snapple Theater Center on 50th street and Broadway in the heart of New York City's theater district. It has two theaters, one of which is a traditional theater, the other a thrust stage which can house plays. The center also includes a 40x50ft rehearsal space which is available for rent. The theaters are considered Off-Broadway because of their low seating capacities.