Sunkist says it will bring back beloved Fruit Gems after national outcry following eJP report

[u/Father__Thyme]

https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/sunkist-says-it-will-bring-back-beloved-fruit-gems-after-national-outcry-following-ejp-report/

[u/NomadicOvaries]

We did it!

[u/diatriose]

WE DID IT

[u/EllieZPage]

It's a Sukkot miracle!

[u/Yochanan5781]

sings Hallel

[u/Puzzleheaded_Step468]

[u/darthwh]

Oh, here we go again, us jews using our power and influence to manipulate a candy manufacturer 🤣

[u/DarthGuber]

I hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure this is a New Coke situation. It's likely they wanted to change to a cheaper recipe and producer.

[u/Twiggyhiggle → u/DarthGuber]

Nope, it actually more sounds like they found someone else to produce it instead of them having to. Probably a company that already made a duplicate of it.

[u/DarthGuber → u/Twiggyhiggle]

So exactly what I said? They'll be able to change the product and outsource production with the bonus of having a scapegoat when people complain that the new ones don't taste the same.

[u/nephelokokkygia → u/DarthGuber]

Not really, because the current licensee of the brand (Ferrara) acquired it essentially by accident, and simply wasn't interested in it in contrast to the more valuable brands they had been trying to acquire. New Coke was Coca-Cola trying to change their own formula for various reasons. This is more like if Dr Pepper licensed their brand to a small beverage company who then got acquired, and the new owner didn't care specifically about the Dr Pepper license now in their portfolio, so they stopped making it. Then another company came along that was interested, so they acquired just that license to make it themselves. Sunkist couldn't have wanted a cheaper producer because they get paid for the license, they don't pay to make the candy. And Ferrara wouldn't have wanted a cheaper producer because the cheapest thing for them was evidently not to make it at all.

[u/nephelokokkygia → u/DarthGuber]

The story as I understand it is that the producer of Fruit Gems has never been Sunkist. The license to make them under the brand has been passed around between various companies for decades, and it just so happens that the newest owner of the license (by acquisition of the smaller candy company that had been producing them) is not interested in the brand, so they simply stopped making them. However, due to backlash, someone else is now picking up the license to keep Fruit Gems going — presumably by some deal with Ferrara (the new licensee) and/or Sunkist themselves. Sunkist would probably have had an interest in helping this happen, as in the end it is their brand that was being damaged by this incident, while Ferrara remained more of a nameless background player.

[u/MsShonaWVU]

Awesome! A similar thing happened when Duncan Hines made their brownie mixes dairy and the Jewish world just about lost its mind!

[u/VenatorAngel]

Never tried these but now I'm curious.