This is really horrible. Seriously. This is just short of lying. In
fact, I'm going to say this is lying (but if you're a Tropicana lawyer
reading this, it's not lying, it's just really, really, really,
deceptive). The packaging shows us a glass of what sure looks like
orange juice--there's an orange slice in the corner of the front of
the carton, and at the top it says "SOME PULP." These all suggest
that the content of the packaging is, in fact, orange juice. In the
image attached to this post, I've pointed out other aspects of the
packaging that prove that it isn't orange juice.
I came across this stuff when I felt the distant fatigue of a cold
coming on. I asked @siskita to pick me up some orange juice on the
way home from a recording session last night and she picked up this
stuff. At first-glance, I knew something was wrong with it--but not
in a way that I could say "hey, that's not orange juice."
The packaging just looked "off."
Ironically, it was the 1.8-quart container that made me look
closer--it's not a half-gallon like most cartons of orange juice.
Yes, that's right, not only do you not get your typical half-gallon of
orange juice, you don't actually get a half-gallon. Deceptive all
'round. But why all this subterfuge? Making the carton smaller was an
obvious money-saver, but why not fill the smaller carton with
orange juice?
After a bit of research, I began to work out a theory as to why
Tropicana has decided to start selling us orange-juice-like liquids.
Turns
out this "Trop50" stuff (what the hell kind of stupid name is that??)
is sweetened with "Reb A PureVia™" which is some sort of "natural"
concoction taken, in part, from a stevia plant.
Why spend the year and a half Tropicana says it spent creating this
mixture of water, natural chemicals and orange juice? My guess is
that oranges are expensive. Use less oranges by watering down the
juice and then add sweetener which is cheaper than the oranges
(according to Wikiepedia.org, stevia extracts can be up
to 300 times sweeter than sugar so much less would need to be
used). Voila! Tropicana charges the same for something that cost them
less to make and, thanks to pretty much dishonest packaging, people
walk out of the store (like @siskita did) thinking they bought orange
juice when really they bought something else.
What's even more grand is that Tropicana says this is all because
they're listening to their consumers: "We heard from consumers that
some of them were seeking or wanting that goodness of orange juice but
looking to reduce their sugar and calories. Trop50 answers that call."
Uh-huh. I'm sure a whole lot of consumers were looking for
lower-calorie fruit juice. Apparently, an official from
Tropicana tried to calm the fears of some orange growers, worried
Tropicana would buy fewer oranges now, by saying "This is really about
bringing people back to orange juice who may have left."
Riiiight. People stopped drinking orange juice because it wasn't
low-calorie enough.
What's even more depressing (and a little disturbing) as that Trop50
is sponsoring a BlogHer
group on BlogHer.com, the famous female-blogging community. So,
essentially, it seems like Tropicana has convinced the BlogHer
community to essentially endorse the kind of deceptive practices
Tropicana is pulling in order to save a buck. I mean, think about all
the moms out there who might look to this group's endorsement of
Trop50 and just naturally assume that Trop50 is orange juice. The
BlogHer group is called "The Juice" after all, how ironic that Trop50
is only 42% juice.
What's the big deal in the end? Well, I choose to consume as much
natural food as I can--real, unprocessed substances are what I prefer
to put in my body. Sure, I can't always do that, but misleading me
into drinking a liquid that was created in a lab and not nature is not
cool. Thanks for being lame, Tropicana! I'll be avoiding all of your
brands from now on.
Orignal From: Tropicana Uses Very Deceptive Packaging for their new "Orange Juice Beverage with Vitamins"
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