Snapple

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Snapple

Type	Iced tea, juice drink, lemonade, water
Manufacturer	Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Country of origin	United States
Introduced	1972
Related products	Nestea, Lipton Iced Tea

Snapple is a brand of iced tea and juice drinks owned by The Dr Pepper Snapple Group and based in Plano, Texas.

Contents 1 History 2 Snapple and education 3 "Real Facts" 3.1 Incorrect facts 4 Rumors and myths 5 Snapple Theater Center 6 Discontinued brands 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

Snapple was founded by Hyman Golden, Arnold Greenberg and Leonard Marsh in Valley Stream, New York, on Long Island in 1972. The word "Snapple" was introduced in the early 1980s and is derived from a carbonated apple juice.^[1] "In 1980, the company introduced a line of all-natural juices with the Snapple name, which came from one of its first products, a carbonated apple juice that had a "snappy apple taste." They first started with pure fruit drinks, and would not manufacture their first tea, lemon tea, until 1987.^[2] Currently, there are four different types of Snapple: Tea (diet and regular), juice drinks, lemonade, and bottled water.

Snapple's brand slogan is "Made from the best stuff on Earth."

Snapple was known for a popular series of TV advertisements in the early 1990s featuring Wendy Kaufman (the "Snapple lady") answering letters from Snapple fans.

Quaker Oats bought Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1994 and quit using Wendy. The company ran into problems and sold it to Triarc in 1997 for $300 million.^[3] Triarc sold it to Cadbury Schweppes for $1.45 billion in September 2000.^[4] It was spun off in May 2008 to its current owners.

Starting in March 2009, Snapple was made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.^[5]

[edit] Snapple and education

In October 2003, Snapple began its sponsorship of the New York City school system,^{[citation needed]} as part of the deal to make Snapple New York's official beverage.^[6] The company promised an $8 million dollar per year profit for city schools if it was allowed to sell its drinks, including juice and bottled water, in school vending machines.^[6] Snapple was able to acquire the contract in part because New York City officials did not want to encourage the consumption of sodas, which have been linked to childhood obesity and are generally considered unhealthy. The Snapple juice drinks, specifically created to meet rules banning soda and other sugary snacks from city schools, are marketed under the "Snapple 100% Juiced!" label.^[6] The flavors available under this brand include Green Apple, Fruit Punch, Melon Berry, Grape, Orange Mango, and Strawberry Lime.^[6] Although the juice drinks are fortified with vitamins and minerals, they still contain more sugar (41 grams) than a 12-ounce container of Coca Cola (39 grams).^[6] Dr. Michael F. Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, called the drinks "little better than vitamin-fortified sugar water."^[6] In addition, the concentrates used in the drinks, apple, grape and pear, are the least expensive and nutritious. Dr. Toni Liquori, associate professor at the Columbia Teachers College, questioned the sale of bottled water in schools, saying "If anything, we should have cold water in our schools."^[6]

The deal also gave Snapple exclusive rights to sell its drinks in vending machines on all New York City properties starting in January 2004. Snapple paid the City $106 million for the rights and agreed to spend $60 million more to marketing and promotion over the length of the five-year contract^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] "Real Facts"

Snapple is well-known for printing interesting numbered "facts" on the inside of their bottle caps. A list of these "Real Facts" is available on the company website.

[edit] Incorrect facts

Several of the facts on Snapple caps have been found to be outdated, incorrect or exaggerated. Discredited "Real Facts" include:

• #1 "A goldfish's attention span is three seconds." This theory was tested by Discovery Channel's MythBusters. The experiment consisted of training several goldfish to complete a maze. They concluded that a goldfish's attention span and memory retention lasts well over 3 seconds.
• #28 "Chewing gum while peeling onions will prevent you from crying." Tearing when cutting an onion are caused by a gas released that comes in contact with the eye, and is not thwarted by gum chewing.
• #31 "The average human will eat an average of eight spiders while sleeping." This statistic was made up in 1993 as an example of the absurd things people will believe simply because they come across them on the internet, as uncovered by Snopes.^[7]
• #36 "A duck's quack does not echo." Tested by Snopes and Mythbusters. Both tests concluded that a duck's quack does echo but is hard to distinguish.^[8]
• #40 "It is possible to lead a cow up stairs but not down." This is not true. Cows can walk up and down stairs.^[9]
• #69 "Caller ID is illegal in California." There is no law against Caller ID in the state, though there were lengthy debates about legalizing it in the early 1990s.^[10]
• #77 "No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times." This myth was put to the test by the Discovery Channel show MythBusters, which folded a piece of paper 11 times. The piece of paper used in MythBusters was an oversized piece of paper and thinner than a standard 8.5"x11" piece of paper.^[11]
• #89 "The average American walks 18,000 steps a day." There are many 10,000 steps a day health programs which consider 10,000 a stretch goal. Such programs state that a "sedentary person" only walks 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day.^[12]
• #114 "The oldest known animal was a tortoise, which lived to be 152 years old" Currently the oldest living animal, a tortoise named Tu'i Malila, lived to be 188 years old.^[13]
• #116 "The largest fish is the whale shark - it can be over 50 feet long and weigh 2 tons." Full-grown whale sharks do not weigh 2 tons (4,000 lbs or 1,820 kg), but are much heavier, weighing up to 16 tons (32,000 lbs or 14,550 kg).^[14]
• #121 "The only bird that can swim and not fly is a penguin." The Cassowary and the Flightless Cormorant are other flightless birds that can swim.
• #122 "A duck cannot walk without bobbing its head." According to several videos (see reference) that show ducks out on strolls, it is clear that a duck does not need to bob its head while it walks.^[15]
• #128 "Dragonflies have six legs but cannot walk." Only the adults cannot walk, the babies can.
• #136 "Strawberries are the only fruit whose seeds grow on the outside." False. Cashews are a fruit with external seeds. See Cashew
• #145 "Lake Superior is the world's largest lake." The Caspian Sea is considered the largest lake; Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake by surface area. The largest freshwater lake by volume is Lake Baikal in Siberia.^[16]
• #146 "Falls Church, Virginia, is the smallest functional county at 2.0 square miles, although it is termed an 'independent city.'" (Kalawao County, Hawaii is also smaller but is technically part of Oceania, and not either of the American continents^[17])
• #151 "The fastest served ball in tennis was clocked at 154 mph in 1963." The current record is 155 by Andy Roddick on September 27, 2004.
• #162 "The temperature of the sun can reach up to 15 million degrees Fahrenheit." In fact, the core of the sun reaches 15 million degrees Celsius, about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.^[18]
• #163 "The first penny had the motto 'Mind your own business.'" This is false. The Fugio Cent had the motto, "Mind your business."
• #171 "The most sensitive parts of the body are the mouth and fingertips". The eyeballs have more nerve endings than either of these.
• #180 "The first VCR was made in 1956 and was the size of a piano." The first VTR (Video Tape Recorder) was made in 1956. VCRs (video cassette recorders) came along in the 1970s.
• #266 "Manhattan is the only borough in New York City that does not have a Main Street." Roosevelt Island is part of the borough of Manhattan, and its only significant street is named Main Street.
• #327 "Chewing gum was invented in New York City in 1870 by Thomas Adams." The Mayans chewed chicle, which is the sap from the sapodilla tree, and the ancient Greeks chewed mastiche, a chewing gum made from the resin of the mastic tree. Early American settlers also made a chewing gum from spruce sap and beeswax.
• #334 "Thomas Edison coined the word 'hello' and introduced it as a way to answer the phone." The word "hello" was used in print in Roughing It by Mark Twain in 1872, while the telephone was invented in 1876.^[19]
• #383 "Mount Katahdin in Maine is the first place in the U.S. to get sunlight each morning." According to the National Park Service, Cadillac Mountain is the first place in Maine to see the sunrise during the winter, while Mars Hill, Maine is the first in the summer. The difference between sunrises on Cadillac Mountain, Mars Hill, and in Lubec, Maine -- the easternmost town in the United States -- is generally less than half a second.
• #399 "Manhattan was the first capital of the United States." False. Philadelphia was the first capital of the United States, as said in fact #662 saying that "Philadelphia was the first capital of the United States."
• #719 "A strawberry is not an actual berry but a banana is."
• #726 "A polar bear cannot be seen by an infrared camera, due to its transparent fur." Polar Bear International uses infrared cameras for polar bear research. Especially to track female bears who are in dens with cubs.

[edit] Rumors and myths

Like many popular brands, Snapple has had urban myths and false rumors occasionally plague its brand. In 1992, rumors began to spread that Snapple was a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and Operation Rescue. The reasoning for this was the portrayal of a ship from the Boston Tea Party^[20], which was mistakenly believed to be a slave ship. The ensuing bad publicity caused the company to redesign their iced tea labels. The new design featured a smiling sun and, depending on the flavor, a lemon wedge/peach slice/several raspberries and a lemon tree/peach tree/raspberry bush.^[21] In early 2009 the label design would receive another makeover, this time with a somewhat more simplified design.^[22]

Snapple also fell victim to the old rumor that the small "K" was either a representation of the Klan, or of an imagined "Jewish Tax" (augmented by the fact that all three founders were Jewish). The "K" on the products actually meant that they were certified kosher.

Snapple initially tried to quell these rumors quietly, but ultimately had to launch a media campaign to squash them, pointing out it would be bad for business to support controversial issues in such a way as the rumors implied. Through a media campaign with the NAACP, Snapple successfully fought back these rumors, although occasionally they are still brought up as fact.^[23]

[edit] Snapple Theater Center

In 2007, Snapple opened the Snapple Theater Center on 50th street and Broadway in the heart of New York City's theater district. It has two theaters, one of which is a traditional theater, the other a thrust stage which can house plays. The center also includes a 40x50 ft rehearsal space which is available for rent. The theaters are considered Off-Broadway because of their low seating capacities.

[edit] Discontinued brands

Snapple Elements
Whipper Snapple
Snapple Sodas

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Snapple Facebook Page
• Snapple Refreshes Itself - Snapple Relaunch (2009)
• The Snapple Dragoon at Snopes.com
• Snapple Real Facts Buster
• Snapple Real Facts list

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