 | STUFF
ElementsTM
Snapple Beverages Corp.
There has been a growing trend surfacing on the grocery shelves within the last few years towards creating products that contain exotic or unusual ingredients. Culturally, in the West we've come full circle to a revived fascination with all things foreign or 'exotic'. One of the best indicators as to when a fad has reached its peak is when everyday product manufacturers start exploiting this trend. I knew things had gone too far when I discovered the Snapple line of beverages "ElementsTM" in my local 7-11 cooler.
The first thing that sucked me in were the names, fire, earth, rain, sun, and sky to name a few. Nothing says 'exotic' like the elements. When I removed the first product from the shelf and read the ingredients I was further intrigued -- agave, star fruit, echinacea, dragonfruit, guarana, ginko biloba, astragalus and grapeseed extract are only a few of the unusual ingredients listed. I couldn't be more excited, some of these ingredients were plant products that I had grown to love over the last few years. Gingko biloba-that's good for memory, echiniacea-an immune system booster. "Finally something beyond the usual that can be purchased outside of a health food store" I enthusiastically thought to myself. I bought up every flavour available at my local and brought them home for a little taste test.
Once at home I was disappointed to conclude that they have managed to take interesting and healthy plant products-fruits and herbs that have been used for centuries by the cultures from where they are naturally grown, and transformed them into the same old crap-sugar water. Although Sun had a slightly unusual flavour, it really just tasted like orange sucker in liquid form. Rain which boasted agave cactus (Agave isn't a cactus but a member of the Lily family) and ginseng as a few of its ingredients tasted oddly similar to blue melted freezie. Even with the addition of dragonfruit to Fire, it still tasted like nothing more than fruit punch.
I'm not saying I'm at all surprised. To expect the average American company to produce a product that actually highlights the flavours of exotic fruits and herbs would be unheard of. I'm sure that market research and scores of focus groups concluded that while the average North American is interested in the exotic, and likes the idea of consuming something "healthy", the majority don't want something that tastes any different then the flavours their palate understand: fruit punch, orange, and the handful of other flavours that repeat themselves continuously on the North American store shelves.
Although there was a time that I enjoyed a Snapple root beer, I think if I crave the flavour of dragonfruit, I'll pass on the bottled beverage and wait until they're in season to purchase one from my local Chinatown.
-GS
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