Advocates for Kids, Consumers Urge End to Procter & Gamble's 'Sunny Deception'; Parents, Kids Mistakenly Think Sunny Delight is Juice

4/24/2002

From: Tracy Taylor Grondine, 703-472-5068

WASHINGTON, April 24 -- Today, the Florida Department of Citrus, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the Children's Foundation, and the Center for Florida's Children formed an alliance of consumers, parents and child advocates aimed at ending Procter & Gamble's (P&G) deceptive packaging, promotion and positioning of its "junk juice" drink, Sunny Delight.

The campaign, called Sunny Deception, will educate consumers, involve dozens of organizations, and mobilize hundreds of thousands of consumers nationwide. The Sunny Deception Campaign also launched a web site -- http://www.sunnydeception.org -- giving consumers a variety of ways to take actions to stop these practices.

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., Bob Crawford, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, and Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of CSPI, released new data from Peter D. Hart Research Associates, showing that P&G's marketing of Sunny Delight is deceiving parents and children alike.

"We knew that P&G was exploiting the purity and quality of orange juice for a product that has little, if anything at all, to do with real fruit juice," Crawford said. "P&G denied our allegations that children and parents were being deceived by the way the company packages, promotes and positions Sunny Delight. P&G refused to make any changes when we announced our concerns with their practices last month in Florida. Today, we know there is real deception behind their labeling and marketing tactics. We demand that P&G stop the deception."

"There is nothing either sunny or delightful about a junk food dressed up as fruit juice," Jacobson said. "Sunny Delight is basically exorbitantly priced sugar water, with a tiny bit of fruit juice and vitamins added. It's like orange soda without the bubbles. Parents should not be be tricked into believing this product is like real orange juice, and shame on supermarkets and P&G for positioning it as such."

Sunny Delight is marketed as a "real fruit beverage," when it actually contains, at most, 5 percent fruit juice of any kind. In addition, Sunny Delight contains only 2 percent or less of any type of citrus juice, and could contain as much -- if not more -- apple juice as it does orange juice. By labeling the product as a real fruit beverage and placing it with orange juice in the refrigerated section of supermarkets, many children and parents are led to believe they are buying real orange juice.

The Hart research exposed kids to product labels and the company's marketing tactics such as youth-oriented television and web site advertisements. The children were also shown pictures of Sunny Delight's placement in refrigerated sections of grocery stores near orange juice. When asked about the real juice content of Sunny Delight, 65 percent of kids interviewed believe Sunny Delight is made mostly from real fruit juice, and 79 percent believe that Sunny Delight is real juice after seeing it placed next to orange juice in the refrigerated section of supermarkets. When parents were informed of kids' reactions to the marketing tactics, 58 percent were concerned about P&G labeling Sunny Delight a "real fruit beverage" and 49 percent had concerns that kids think Sunny Delight is real fruit juice because of supermarket placement. In addition, the Hart Research poll found that 47 percent of parents who bought Sunny Delight in the past month for their children believe it to be all or mostly real fruit juice.

"Shame on Procter & Gamble for targeting children with their advertising and the website campaign, " said Kay Hollestelle, executive director of the Children's Foundation. "The fact that it's kept in the refrigerated section of the grocery store right along side the other juices makes you think it's the real thing, unless you read the small print! It should be found on the shelves along with all the other sugar-laden soft drinks."

Gail Rampersaud, a registered dietitian and researcher with the University of Florida's Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, said it's important that parents and children be able to distinguish fruit-flavored drinks like Sunny Delight from 100 percent pure orange juice. "Pure orange juice offers nutritional advantages that can't be found in Sunny Delight," she said. "For instance, orange juice is a good source of folate and potassium, important nutrients not found in Sunny Delight, or in many other fruit-flavored drinks. Also, when your child drinks a six-ounce glass of 100 percent pure orange juice, it counts as a serving of fruit based on USDA food pyramid guidelines. The same cannot be said for Sunny Delight."

This is not the first time P&G has been under pressure to change its tactics for Sunny Delight. In 2000, British consumers expressed outrage over similar aggressive marketing practices targeting children. The final blow came after instances where children actually turned orange from drinking Sunny Delight were made public. Last month, P&G was forced to re-launch Sunny Delight in the United Kingdom by increasing the juice content from 5 percent to 15 percent and introducing flavors with no additional added sugar. In the Hart research, when U.S. parents learned of Procter and Gamble's decision to change its marketing strategies based on consumer demands in the United Kingdom, 84 percent believed that P&G should adopt the same practices in the United States.

"Procter and Gamble, responding to a public outcry, has stopped some of its deceptive practices aimed at parents and kids in the United Kingdom," Crawford said. "It's our position that American kids and parents deserve no less."

The alliance demanded that Procter and Gamble immediately:

1) Stop deceptive labeling. P&G should state Sunny Delight's real juice content more prominently on its label and in advertising, and remove the words "real fruit beverage," which appears calculated to mislead.

2) Stop deceptive marketing and positioning. Stop advertising the drink as unleashing the power of the sun and stop placing Sunny Delight in the refrigerated section of supermarkets. Sunny Delight should be placed with other soft drinks so as not to confuse consumers.

3) Increase the juice content. At the very least, P&G should make the drink healthier by increasing the real juice content and decreasing sugar. Obviously, P&G felt this was the right thing to do for the children in the United Kingdom. Why not American children? They should also add the disclaimer on the label: "Like all soft drinks, Sunny Delight should be consumed in moderation."

The Sunny Deception Campaign is comprised of leading health, consumer and children organizations, pediatricians, dietitians, and other interested parties. For more information on the campaign and to write Procter and Gamble or your Congressional representative about changing Sunny Delight's deceiving labeling and marketing practices, visit http://www.sunnydeception.org.