Fruitopia facts for kids
The original Fruitopia logo
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| Type | Fruit-flavored beverage |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Minute Maid (The Coca-Cola Company) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1994 |
| Discontinued | 2003 (United States only) |
| Flavor | Strawberry Passion Awareness, Kiwiberry Ruckus, Beachside Blast Fruit, Blueberry Watermelon Wisdom, Orange Undercurrent, Tangerine Wavelength, Raspberry Psychic Lemonade, Fruit Integration, Cherry Vanilla Groove |
Fruitopia was a popular fruit-flavored drink. It was launched in 1994 by Minute Maid, a brand owned by The Coca-Cola Company. This drink was made for teenagers and young adults.
Fruitopia was created because other flavored drinks, like Snapple, were doing very well. It became very popular in the mid-1990s. However, its sales started to slow down by the end of the decade. In 2003, Fruitopia was mostly stopped in the United States. But some of its flavors were later brought back under the Minute Maid name. You can still find Fruitopia drinks in some countries and at some McDonald's restaurants in the United States and Canada today.
Contents
The Story of Fruitopia
Fruitopia was a special idea from Coca-Cola's former marketing boss, Sergio Zyman. The company spent about $30 million to advertise it when it first came out. This helped Fruitopia become very well-known quickly in the mid-1990s.
Time magazine even called Fruitopia one of the Top 10 New Products of 1994. The drink was also mentioned on the famous cartoon show The Simpsons.
Popular Flavors and Where to Find Them
The most famous Fruitopia flavor was Strawberry Passion Awareness. You could find this flavor at drink fountains and at McDonald's. Coca-Cola worked hard to sell Fruitopia in many places. You could also find Fruitopia vending machines in schools and college campuses. Sometimes, these machines even replaced soda machines.
Besides Strawberry Passion Awareness, other flavors included The Grape Beyond, Tangerine Wavelength, and Beachside Blast. There were many more flavors available in the UK than in the United States. In 1995, Fruitopia also launched a line of fruit teas. These included flavors like Born Raspberry and Peaceable Peach.
In 1996, Coca-Cola changed some Fruitopia flavors. They added new ones, like Beachside Blast, and renamed others. This was done to make the brand more appealing to young people.
Fruitopia's Cool Ads
Fruitopia television advertisements were very colorful. They showed animated fruit spinning in bright kaleidoscope patterns. The ads also used inspiring sayings, like poems from the 1960s. Music for some ads came from bands like the Muffs and artists like Kate Bush.
One ad said:
there is a wonderful
person inside you who
is dying to get out.
please drink a
raspberry
psychic lemonade
for him/her.
Fruitopia's main slogan was: "Fruitopia: for the mind, body, and planet."
A Legal Challenge in Greece
In 1997, a writer from Greece named Eugene Trivizas won a legal case against Coca-Cola. He stopped the company from using "Fruitopia" as a trademark for drinks in Greece. This was because he already used "Fruitopia" for his TV show and comic books. The court decided that Coca-Cola had used his idea without permission. Coca-Cola tried to appeal, but the court ruled in Trivizas's favor again in 1999. This meant Coca-Cola could not use his idea as a trademark for drinks in Greece.
Why Fruitopia Slowed Down
By the late 1990s, Fruitopia was not making much money. In 2003, most Fruitopia drinks were stopped in the United States. Some of its flavors were then sold under the Minute Maid name. A similar thing happened with PepsiCo. They replaced their own fruit drink, Fruit Works, with their popular Tropicana brand.
See also
- Snapple
- OK Soda
