SunnyD
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SunnyD (originally marketed as Sunny Delight) is a popular orange-flavored drink, manufactured until recently by Procter & Gamble. It produced an estimated $450 million in revenue for Procter & Gamble in 2004, and now comes in several different flavors.
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[edit] History
Originally manufactured as Sunny Delight by Doric Foods of Mount Dora, Florida in 1964, it grew so popular that additional plants were built in California and Ohio, in 1974 and 1978, respectively. In 1983, Sundor Brands bought out Doric Foods; Sundor brands was then purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1989. In 2005, Sunny Delight was spun off into the independent Sunny Delight Beverages Company (SDBC). The beverage is distributed by Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. (DPSU). Its high concentration of sugar and citrus creates a very distinctive, syrupy taste.
It was launched in 1998 in the United Kingdom with a £10 million promotional campaign, and became the third biggest selling drink in the UK, behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi. It was marketed as a healthy alternative to soft drinks, and was sold in refrigerated cabinets. But this claim was brought in question. Although many consumers may experience visual and olfactory perceptions of the drink as a type of orange juice, the products itself states that it contains less than 2% juice, its main ingredients being water and corn syrup. There were a series of negative press reports following an investigation by the Food Commission, an independent consumer organisation. According to a BBC News report, the negative publicity escalated when a SunnyD ad showing a snowman turn orange was released at about the same time as reports of a girl who turned orange (due to the UK product's use of Beta Carotene for color) after drinking too much Sunny Delight.[1] [2] Sales had halved by 2001, and the drink was redesigned and re-launched in 2003 as 'SunnyD', after a GameCube sweepstakes concluded on the last day of 2002. The new SunnyD claims to contain 5% fruit juice made up of 2% or less of a number of concentrated juices including orange, tangerine, apple, lime and grapefruit. The North American Tangy Original also contains canola oil, cellulose gum, modified cornstarch, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate, yellow #5 and yellow #6.
There is confusion regarding whether or not SunnyD needs to be constantly refrigerated. Reports were published in the UK stating that it had no ingredients that could spoil and did not need to be chilled in the store. People were concerned that Sunny D was trying to pass itself off as a fresh juice product by being sold in the fridge section of stores when it was not a fresh product at all and required no chilling for storage or freshness. SDBC now sells in three product lines, the traditional line, which they claim required constant chilling, and the shelf stable variety, called "Baja", and a third shelf-stable energy drink line. SDBC says all need to be chilled before consumption for best flavor. The three types are marketed so that the shelf-stable variety can be placed among more similar brands and away from refrigerated compartments. This is an advantage for Sunny Delight because it can place its products in more than one location in a store.
Sunny Delight may contain animal-derived gelatin[3], although it appears (in the UK at least) that this is no longer the case.[4]
In December 2005 the new owners of SunnyD set up a Parents Advisory Panel in the UK to support the reinvention of the company. These parents now advise the company on all brand decisions with their first real result being the launch of an improved product in June 2006.
In 2006, a six-ton spill of Sunny D and concentrate into the River Parrett in the UK raised environmental concerns.[5]
[edit] Original flavors
- Tangy Original (Florida Style)
- Smooth (California Style)
- Mango
- Lemonade
- Tangy Original with Calcium
- Fruit Punch
- Reduced Sugar Sunny D
[edit] Fused Blends flavors
- Strawberry Fused
- Mango Fused
- Peach Fused
- Pineapple Fused
[edit] Baja Flavors
- Baja Orange
- Baja Orange Berry
- Baja Orange Pineapple
- Baja Red Punch
- Baja Blue Berry
[edit] Trivia
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- The slogan "Unleash the power of the sun" is quoted by the Neopets website.
- SunnyD is mentioned in the song "Knuckles" by the band The Hold Steady. "I've been trying to get people to call me SunnyD because I've got the good stuff that kids go for. But people keep calling me Five Alive."
- The popular comedian, Dave Chappelle does a joke about the then-Sunny Delight commercials of the early '90s.
- Adam Carolla has suggested that Sunny Delight and Mountain Dew should be fortified with an agent that causes sterility in anyone who drinks more than 16 ounces in a year, as they are the official beverages of stupid people, or the "nectar of the tards" as Carolla phrases it.
- The BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Now Show had a running gag in one series in which teenagers believed an orange was "a SunnyD plant".
- SunnyD was parodied by Benny & Rafi Fine (co-creators of RavenStake) in such a vulgar matter. The mock SunnyD commercial could be seen on YouTube.com, Break.com, Myspace.com, among others. Link: http://www.ravenstake.com/?Show=Sketches&Episode=SunnyD
- A season 3 Family Guy episode parodied a SunnyD commercial.
- SunnyD is also an ingredient in one variation of the alcoholic drink Brass Monkey (cocktail).
- SunnyD is also an ingredient in the drink known as Sunny White.
- In the movie Juno, Ellen Page's character, Juno, drinks from a bottle of SunnyD in the opening scene.
[edit] References
- ^ Clayton, Jennifer. The rise and fall of Sunny Delight, BBC News, December 3, 2003
- ^ Soft drink turned toddler 'yellow', BBC News, December 26, 1999
- ^ Rasheeduddin, Syed. Do They Always List All the Ingredients? Not Really, Albalagh, April 22, 2001
- ^ Nutritional Information and Ingredients, Sunny D UK
- ^ Fish killed as soft drink leaks from factory, Daily Mail, May 19, 2006
