Why You Won't See Diet Snapple In The Store Anymore
If you grew up in the 90s, chances are you have fond memories of enjoying an iced cold Snapple in the summertime. Whether you preferred a Peach Tea Snapple with your morning egg sandwich or a Raspberry Tea with your afternoon salad, the flavored bottles could be found in the hands of nearly all Americans. The drink offered a sweet allure over milk and was marketed as a healthier alternative to soda using the famous slogan "the best stuff on Earth" (via Eater).
Through the decades, Snapple has released a variety of natural juices, teas, and lemonades, with a diet flavor being the number one pick in Mashed's list of popular Snapple flavors ranked worst to best. However, Diet Snapple, while certainly a popular choice through the years, is getting a make-over as the word "diet" has lost its luster.
As CNN reported, you're less likely to see beverages, like soda, using the word diet on its packaging. This is because, per chief marketing officer at PepsiCo Beverages North America, Greg Lyons, "Younger people just don't like the word 'diet." Furthermore, it's a word that's no longer in fashion with the body positive movement.
The same flavor in a new package
Snapple has recognized that words do matter and per Food & Wine, the company has announced that it's ditching the "Diet Snapple" from its packaging and replacing it with "Snapple Zero Sugar." The company states that the ingredients of your favorite flavors will be exactly the same. You can now find six existing Snapple flavors, like lemon tea and raspberry tea, called "Zero Sugar" rather than diet, and one new flavor — Zero Sugar Kiwi Strawberry.
Per Katie Webb, Keurig Dr. Pepper's vice president of brand marketing, "The decision to reposition Diet Snapple to Snapple Zero Sugar was a choice made to deliver on our consumer's needs. We're committed to the innovation behind the better-for-you zero sugar that still delivers the same great taste that our consumers have known and loved for decades."
Changing the outside without changing the inside, however, might just be slapping a bandaid on a problem bigger than labels. The bottle may only have 10 calories, but Fooducate gives it a C+ rating for "containing controversial artificial sweeteners" and having no antioxidants, meaning, "the best stuff on Earth" may have no nutritional value at all. The website, Is It Bad For You, gives Diet Snapple an F, blatantly claiming that the beverage is indeed bad for you.
However, if you're a Snapple fan, you might be surprised at how it ranked among the Mashed list of 33 most popular ice tea brands.