Friday, September 12, 2003
Soon to be over-used phrase of the year: The Big Snapple
Under a five-year $166 million deal announced yesterday, Snapple, the beverage company that claims its drinks are made from the best stuff on earth, and New York City, which claims to be the capital of the world, are uniting to promote each other. Snapple is now an official beverage of the city.
Most immediately, the venture will give Snapple exclusive rights to place vending machines in the city's 1,200 public schools. And starting on Jan. 1, the deal will extend to other city properties, including office buildings, police stations and even sanitation depots.
In return, Snapple will guarantee to pay the schools at least $8 million a year for five years. Under other parts of the deal, Snapple is expected to pay the city about $13 million a year, based on sales. And it will spend $12 million a year on advertising that also promotes the city.
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As part of the deal, Snapple is developing four new 100 percent juice drinks — Green Apple, Orange Mango, Grape and Fruit Punch — to comply with the city's recent ban of soda, candy and other sugary snacks from school vending machines. Even though Snapple plans to sell 100 percent juice drinks, that does not necessarily mean slimmer waistlines for schoolchildren. Like soft drinks, many fruit juices provide calories from sugar and not much else. And while fruit contains at least some fiber, it is usually lost when the fruit is turned into juice.
To be the Education Department's exclusive vendor, Snapple will pay the city a 30-cent commission on each $1 can of juice or water sold in schools. (Iced tea will not be sold in the schools.) In addition, the company will pay $3 per case sold to support school athletics, for a total of at least $3 million a year. Some of the money will go directly to schools, many of which rely on vending machines to support athletic teams and other programs.
It's a sad, sad day when a city has to have a corporate sponsor just to pay for public education. You'd think schools would be a priority for governments. At least the drinks they're selling in the schools will be 100% fruit juice (unlike their other Snapple products) although that's still a lot of calories in one bottle.
posted by chris at 2:01 PM
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