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Snapple’s Amazing Race to Make More Money

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Snapple keeps innovating with new flavors and snazzy marketing. A new, limited edition Mango Papaya Tea is out:

When The Amazing Race™ told us they were going to India we thought, “Brilliant! India is steeped in rich tea tradition that is over 2000 years old! We should make a special, limited time only flavor inspired by India!” So we did. And we think it will be one heck of a race to see who can snatch up this exotic blend of papaya and mango while supplies last.

blah. blah. blah.

What you need to know:

Another Hollywood / Food industry tie-in.

Here is the ingredient list

FILTERED WATER, CITRIC ACID, TEA, ASPARTAME, POTASSIUM CITRATE, NATURAL FLAVORS. PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE.

Hello, WHERE’S THE FRUIT?

Where are the papayas? The mango?

Oh, it’s all in the “Natural Flavors”… Snapple had us going there with the beautiful pictures of the papaya cut open.

Yes, it’s zero calories. But they come at a heavy price – Aspartame is a controversial artificial sweetener that has been linked in some studies with disease such as cancer. Additionally, consuming diet drinks does not make one skinny.

In all, a beautifully packaged product, even more craftily marketed, with questionable health effects. It’s so cheap to make that the Snapple company is going to make boatloads of money on this.

One would expect more from a company whose logo is “Made from the best stuff on earth”.

Happy Earth Day ?!

What to do at the supermarket:

Skip the beverage aisle. It’s easy to make iced tea at home. And if you must buy prepared tea drinks, opt for non sweetened options – Sokenbicha or ItoEn for example.

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  • http://twitter.com/bostwickenator Alex

    Aren’t those studies done on rats and have doses equivalent (body mass wise) to if I remember right about 500 cans of Coke Zero consumed in one sitting?

    Anyone want to provide a link? Fooducate? Want to back up that statement? Cancer is a strong word to throw around lightly.

    • Phinemamma

      Troll.

      • Jcam9173

        yes.troll.

  • Jcam9173

    so if a guy drinks 500 bottles of say a mixture of several types of soft drinks and snapple products every year for like say, 25 to 30 years, then he gets colon cancer, can you say definatively that his mass consumption of those unnatural drinks (meaning not made from anything that came from the ground and stayed in its original form) did not cause his cancer? Have there been studies done by people other than those in the industry of making soft drinks that have disproven the links to cancer? Maybe there is a drug out there that will cure cancer, hidden away, that pharma companies have had for years but will never tell because they know they will be out of business. The Industry is out to make you sick and big pharma wants to take your money to pay for drugs that really do nothing more than make you more sick. great. thanks.

  • JS

    Aspertame has been proven to be dangerous when consumed in mass amounts in rats. Several large-scale, open label clinical trials have proven that drinking as much as one apertame sweetened drink daily does not increase your risk for any types of cancer (although with all that phosphoric acid you wont be doing your bones or teeth any favors).

    When you post comments like “its linked to diseases such as cancer”, uneducated people will blindly follow your advice when really there may be no danger whatsoever. Cancer is caused by a complex interplay of lifestyle, environmental and dietary factors so implying that this new Snapple drink is going to give you cancer is a little misguided in my opinion. I think it is time for more evidence based fact on your blog fooducate.

  • Amelia Boan

    It doesn’t really matter if the cancer connection can be proven or not. The ingredients in this drink are none that will do our bodies any favors. I think the point of the article is to raise awareness about marketing tactics that mislead us into believing something is healthy when really it isn’t.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=701811355 Katie Tasky

    I just got a bottle of Gold Peak tea recently and was disgusted by how potent the flavor in it was. It’s supposed to be tea! It was super concentrated and the lemon did not taste quite right. I hardly ever buy bottled tea.

  • Mr. Bill

    Uggg… premade tea. For the price of one bottle you could make a gallon with loose tea. Tastes better too.

  • Amandar121

    If Snapple is so bad then why does it get a better grade on the app than Izze drinks which at least contain real fruit juice?

  • Jim Cooper

    There is no evidence that aspartame is dangerous. There is no evidence that diet drinks are connected with obesity. Just more Fooducate alarmism!

    • http://twitter.com/bostwickenator Alex

      Not to undermine your point but I can tell you a great number of obese people drink diet drinks, if only we could figure out why! :P

  • The Healthy Hoff

    Don’t believe Aspartame is harmful? Check this documentary out to learn what the industry isn’t telling you.

    http://thehealthyhoff.blogspot.com/2011/04/doc-sweet-misery-poisoned-world-you.html

  • http://profiles.google.com/ms.pgoodman patricia goodman

    Also, I believe that papaya is a genetically modified food, which makes this drink absolute POISON, including the other junk in it! Whatever happened to plain organic teas…or water?