When the folks from SoBe paid me a visit some months ago, they were promoting one of the fastest-growing segments of the beverage market, so-called "healthy refreshment beverages," non-carbonated juice blends and teas with the added herbal du jour.
SoBe - the name stands for South Beach, Fla. - sports a distinctive lizard design on the bottle and comes in some outrageous colors and flavors, plus ginseng, St. John's Wort, echinacea and / or the like. Recently it's added a lean line to the group. According to Time magazine, these "healthy" drinks, which include Mystic Potions and other contenders, are expected to reach $100 million in sales this year, up from a mere $20 million just two years ago.
Now along comes Ben Jerry's with a line of Frozen Smoothies sporting - you guessed it - the added herbal du jour. Strawberry Banana Manna combines strawberries, bananas, yogurt and chamomile; Tropic of Mango has mangos, guava, yogurt and echinacea; Raspberry Renewal has ginseng; and Chai Tea Latte has cream, spices and Chai tea.
Clearly, other products soon will follow. On the face of it, the products are fine, but this new marketing tool should be recognized for what it is. The illusion that you're doing something really good for yourself because you bought ice cream with echniacea falls into the there's-a-sucker-born-every-minute category.
The Time article noted that you would have to drink six bottles of SoBe Wisdom every day to get any sort of recommended dosage of St. John's Wort. Imagine how many pints of smoothies you'd have to pound down to get enough echinacea to stop a cold.
The products appeal to the up-scale market willing to pay a premium for them - around $1.19 for a bottle of SoBe and $3.29 for a 12-ounce carton of Ben Jerry's at one local grocery store. At the moment, says Pat Kendall, Colorado State University extension specialist and food safety guru, there isn't enough hard data on herbs to answer the basics - how much iss beneficiial, what do they do - not to mention the long-term impact.
Kendall takes a practical view: If you can afford them and you like them, fine. On the other hand, she says, "I wouldn't purchase them for health benefits."
- BY : Marty Meitus
- SOURCE : Denver Rocky Mountain News1999.07.14
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