What does a minister have to do to get a decent glass of orange juice in this city?
By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 23, 2012 - 0 Comments
For the sake of valuable perspective, Open File figures out how much a posh glass of orange juice would cost in Montreal.
The CBC puts the total amount repaid by Bev Oda today at $1,353.81.
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The myth of Vitamin C and the common cold
By Julia Belluz - Friday, March 2, 2012 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments
Flood G./Flickr
You’ve probably heard it a zillion times: take some vitamin C if you feel a cold coming on, and chase away illness with a gallon of orange juice. Even though we know there’s no cure for the common cold, many of us still believe in the sweet, orange elixir and don’t even question what the makers of the stuff guarantee: an 8 oz. glass delivers “100% of the vitamin C” needed to “maintain a healthy immune system.”
Science-ish looked at high-quality studies on the subject of vitamin C and sickness, starting with this recent Cochrane systematic review (the highest form of evidence) on the supplement for prevention and treatment of the common cold. The lead author, Dr. Harri Hemilä, of the department of public health at the University of Helsinki, told Science-ish he has spent much of his career exploring this very question—with some interesting results.
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Here comes the sun, and some OJ
By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments
Tropicana’s ad brings light to the Arctic, but not everyone is smiling
Evoking emotion in a one-minute commercial spot is tough. But a new ad for Tropicana, shot in the remote town of Inuvik, N.W.T., is eliciting plenty—and not all of it positive. The ad, which first aired during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, captures the reaction of the town’s residents when, in the round-the-clock darkness of winter, an enormous helium balloon, emitting a powerful 100,000 lumens of light, is hoisted into the sky. As they bask in the glow, bottles of Tropicana orange juice are dispensed. “On January 8th, we brought the sun to Inuvik,” read the words on the screen. “Because we believe brighter mornings make for brighter days.”
According to Dale Hooper, vice-president of marketing for PepsiCo Beverages Canada (which owns Tropicana), the response has been “unbelievable.” Online, the video has been viewed over 60,000 times; in a matter of days, a Facebook page dedicated to the ad accumulated some 35,000 fans. “We just made movie stars out of people from Inuvik,” he says. But it’s an honour that not all residents are pleased to accept. “I don’t like the way we’re portrayed in it,” 17-year-old Molly McLeod told the Inuvik Drum. “It’s like we’re so out of touch and here’s Tropicana coming to our town to save us.” An editorial, meanwhile, points out that the ad “erroneously” claims to have been shot after 31 days without sunlight. In fact, the sun peeked up on Jan. 6, “days before the film started rolling.”
According to Mayor Denny Rodgers, however, these comments don’t reflect the majority view. On top of giving residents what he calls an “ah moment,” Tropicana invested $25,000 in community programs and provided an opportunity to showcase the town. “They’re up here shooting a commercial for orange juice,” Rodgers says. “But I look at it as, ‘What’s in it for us?’ ”
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Fresh from the press
By Anne Kingston - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 2:20 AM - 3 Comments
A new book reveals what you don’t know about so-called ‘pure’ orange juice
Last January, Tropicana, the orange juice behemoth owned by PepsiCo Inc., made a major marketing blunder: it redesigned the carton for Pure Premium, North America’s pasteurized orange juice brand. Gone was the familiar logo of an orange skewered by a straw; in its place, a close-up of a glass of orange juice. Sales plummeted immediately. Loyal customers griped that the design made the product look like a generic store brand. Within weeks, the new look was scuppered and the image of a fresh orange was reinstated.
The packaging debacle could have been avoided had company executives only got their hands on an advance copy of Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice, Alissa Hamilton’s insightful history of the Florida juice industry, which hits stores next week. They would have been reminded that consumers have long been conditioned to expect processed juice to telegraph the illusion of straight-from-the-orange freshness. The verbiage on the Pure Premium carton is typical: its contents are described as “pure and natural,” containing only “100 per cent pure squeezed orange juice.” Its production methodology is conveyed with Zen-like simplicity: “Our juice is made from fresh hand-picked oranges. Nothing added. Nothing taken away. Only oranges.”
