November 27, 2003

Sunny Delight

Sunny Delight is plumbing new depths of hypocrisy in its advertising. Here is a soft drink full of additives posing as natural and healthy. It was long ago rumbled for this. If you google "Sunny Delight" you'll soon find the many voices of protest.This comment sums it up

Sunny Delight is the fake juice from Procter & Gamble, the same company that brought you the fake fat Olestra. There is nothing either sunny or delightful about a junk food that’s dressed up as real fruit juice. But Sunny Delight is not much more than sugar water with negligible amounts of juice and a bit of vitamins added.

Surely no parent would think that giving orange soda to children is the same thing as giving them honest-to-goodness orange juice. But because some supermarkets actually place this product next to real juice and milk in the refrigerated aisle, parents and children alike are led to believe that Sunny Delight is juice. But it’s not. Sunny Delight’s marketing campaign is designed to deceive, and it succeeds.

What is Procter & Gamble's response? Their latest ad campaign in the UK appeals directly to parents concerned about their children's health and says "Sunny D can help". This claim is substantiated by the fact that there's an option to have Sunny D with no added sugar. All the other rubbish is still there though. They've actually gone from merely implying there is something healthy about this muck to downright claiming it.

This takes the biscuit for shameless cynicism and hypocrisy. This is like an ambulance-chasing lawyer or the conman who prays on the elderly, pretending to share their concerns with the sole motivation of exploiting them.

Procter and Gamble is the beneficiary of the advice of Kevin Roberts of Saatchi and Saatchi, who talks about wanting to create "Lovemarks" (see his site if you can handle the irony). As Tim Kitchin says (somwhere), these should really be called Lustmarks. And Sunny D is the proof.

Posted by Johnnie Moore at 09:27 in Authenticity , Branding , Dr Rant
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Comments (5)

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sam says

can u give me information on how sunnydelight has declined in sales but aslo launched a new image that has benefited sales

elizabeth says

whats wrong with yellow #5? my friends and science teacher say its a bad chemical... but whats wrong with. i looked in websites but they didnt say. Maybe you can help me answer this? Is it like bad for you or does something to your body or something. What makes it bad is what i want to know. I just want to know why its bad to drink it.

Hi Elizabeth, I'm no scientist but I did a bit of searching in google and found this article, which might give you a start in your research

Sunny G says

SUNNY G http://www.canofnothing.com/movies/html/sunnyg.html

chanelle says

who owns sunny delight jw childs of sunny delight beverages

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