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The Benninger Blog

Jon Benninger is the vice president of business development for the Health & Nutrition Network at VIRGO. He works on new products, international efforts, industry outreach and advocacy, content development, partnerships and collaborations, and strategic planning. Jon volunteers for many industry associations, committees and initiatives, is a frequent speaker and moderator at industry events, and assists VIRGO clients with solutions and strategies.. He joined VIRGO in 1995 and has served as editor, publisher, and group publisher prior to his current position. He earned a degree in journalism at Arizona State University.

Teacher suspends student for Naked Juice

May 20, 2010 Comments

Posted in Blog, Topics, Antioxidants, B Vitamins, Caffeine, Children’s Health, Functional Foods, Superfruits

Today, my girlfriend's 11 year old daughter came home from school upset because her teacher suspended her from tomorrow's end-of-school dance for bringing a "dangerous energy drink" to school. Unfortunately, it was a Naked Juice Purple Machine with no caffeine. We will take it up with the school tomorrow, but it makes me wonder what this means for our industry.

I fully support a school forbidding kids from bringing high-caffeine energy drinks like Red Bull or Monster, or even caffeinated drinks in general like Coke and Pepsi. In this case, the school permits kids to bring water and fruit juice. In my opinion, the Naked Juice drink we sent her with is fruit juice. It may not look like the Tropicana Orange Juice or the Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice that the teacher is familiar with, but it is still juice. It may even give her some energy from the vitamins and minerals it contains. It is certainly not a "dangerous energy drink" though. Note that even Naked sells "Energy Smoothies" that do contain added caffeine from guarana and green tea extract. So that confuses matters even more.

What seems to be happening out there is that the natural products industry brand image is in danger. The word "energy" is now a bad word with "unhealthy" and "dangerous" attributes. When did energy become a bad thing? Also, consumers, media, schools, teachers, and others seem to be lumping all of our products into one big category and applying the characteristics of the most controversial or problematic products to all products. Has the natural products brand image been taken over by energy drinks, weight loss pills, male enhancement and steroid substitutes? For companies selling truly healthy and natural products, that is a problem. Think about it: suspended for bringing an all natural, healthy Naked Juice to school because it was interpreted to be a "dangerous energy drink."

What does that mean for our industry brand, and what should we do about it? I don't know, but I will let you know what happens with the dance.

UPDATE: Click here for my newest blog entry and the happy ending to this story.