Sunny Delight

[howthemighty]

I've been enjoying this podcast series called Toast, about the rise and fall of big name companies such as Toys R Us, Jamie's Italian, Club 18-30, and the Commodore 64. This episode is about Sunny Delight: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JeMKDnFayh1wu4GCzbwsK
(Also available on BBC Sounds if you don't use Spotify).

I was a teenager when Sunny Delight was launched, and my mum bought it once, so we could try it, but we weren't hooked in - my mum was pretty good at reading ingredients lists, even back then. But it's quite fascinating to hear the background about the marketing, and how it almost out-sold Coca-Cola for a while (before everyone realised it was full of sugar and might turn the kids yellow if they drank too much). 😁

Any else remember Sunny Delight?

Yes, disgusting stuff. Absolutely hated it as it was so synthetic.

Didn’t it have oil in it?

Isn't it still available just as 'sunny d'?

I heard that one too

The podcast says Proctor & Gamble sold off the brand. The new owners re-formulated it and re-branded it to Sunny D, but it doesn't have anywhere near the same market share as it had previously.

Yes - I'd come across it on work trips in the US, it was stocked in the company's vending machine. Once working late I thought it looked like a 'healthy' option to have with whatever else was available instead of dinner ...never again.

It rotted my brother's teeth or rather it aided my parents in allowing my brothers teeth to rot. He was drinking it all day and throughout the night. His tooth enamel is almost nonexistant.

Water, sugar, a small amount of fruit juice, beta carotene food colouring (which is what turned skin yellow) and vitamins.

I used to love that shit! 😁

My best mate at school drank loads of the stuff and I remember a girl in the news turning orange or something.

The marketing man said they worked on the assumption you had to try it 7 times before you got a taste for it, so they distributed lots of vouchers.

Wasn't it stocked in fridges in shops to make it look 'healthy'? Some news outlets had coverage of how unhealthy it was from the beginning, but so many people ignored it. Not my mum though!

I remember this - full of additives to make something that isn't orange juice taste like a really sweet synthetic version of orange juice! I remember it had a strange aftertaste too. It was OK for a hangover, but even knowing nothing about nutrition at the time I would rather just have... orange juice!

I worked in a Costcutter type store at the time and there was one customer who always bought nothing but Sunny Delight so we (very cleverly) named him Sunny Delight Man.

I LOVED it - I can still remember the taste! My mum stopped buying it as we would demolish it within the afternoon it was brought.

I seem to remember it coming in California flavour or Florida flavour - I think we liked Florida!

wasn't there some controversy about where it was shelved? I seem to remember shops put it in the chiller to begin with but then they were stopped from doing it on the grounds it gave the false impression that it was a fresh product

Yes! I liked the California one.

My kids loved it . Must admit it did taste good 😅 none of us turned orange though 😉

Loved it

My parents used to tell me it was good for me. I always used to say it wasn’t. I will send a link to this thread now!
They also used to give me Lucazade as ‘medicine’ when I was ill.

I loved the Florida one! I was always buying it on my way home from school. Awful to think back at just how much crap was actually in it!

I took out and filled many,many children's teeth because of this stuff. Parents wouldn't believe it was the cause of the problem. Mind you pure orange juice would rot teeth just as easily.

I seem to remember it coming in California flavour or Florida flavour

Yes! Florida was the sharper one with more tang and California was more mellow. I can remember my mum telling my dad to get one of each because my sister (a toddler) would only drink California 😂

Whenever me and dh see any kids going crazy running and bouncing around we always say "too much sunny delight" 😂