SunnyD#Reach for the Sun Bottle Hunt

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{{Infobox beverage

| name = SunnyD

| image = 200px

| caption =

| type =

| abv =

| proof =

| manufacturer = Sunny Delight Beverages

| distributor = Keurig Dr Pepper (US)
Saputo (Canada)

| origin =

| introduced = 1963

| discontinued =

| color = Varies by flavor

| flavor = Various

| ingredients = Water, high fructose corn syrup, 2% or less concentrated juices

| variants =

| related =

| website = {{URL|https://www.sunnyd.com/}}

}}

SunnyD (named Sunny Delight prior to 2000) is an orange drink developed in 1963 by Doric Foods of Mount Dora, Florida, United States.{{cite web |url=http://ww2.sunnyd.com/company/history.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203093612/http://ww2.sunnyd.com/company/history.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-02-03 |title=Sunny Delight Beverages Co. — History |year=2009 |access-date=2011-04-20 }} Additional plants were built in California and Ohio in 1974 and 1978, respectively. In April 1983, Sundor Brands bought out Doric Foods; Sundor Brands was then purchased by American multinational Procter & Gamble in March 1989.{{Cite web|title=Sunny D - Everything2.com|url=https://everything2.com/title/Sunny+D|website=everything2.com|access-date=2020-05-07|archive-date=2019-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002021424/https://everything2.com/title/Sunny+D|url-status=live}} The drink is superficially related to orange juice, but also resembles a soft drink without carbonation.

The drink produced an estimated $455 million in revenue for Procter & Gamble in 2004. In 2005, Sunny Delight was spun off into the independent Sunny Delight Beverages Company (SDBC). The beverage is also distributed by Dr Pepper/Seven Up (DPSU). In Canada, the drink is manufactured and distributed by Saputo.

The beverage was launched in the United Kingdom in April 1998 with a £10 million promotional campaign, and by August 1999, it became the third biggest selling soft drink in the United Kingdom, behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

It was sold in refrigerated cabinets, and marketed as a healthier alternative to soft drinks despite neither being healthier nor requiring refrigeration. Despite the name, SunnyD is not a high source of vitamin D, nor has it ever claimed to be; however, it contains significant amounts of vitamin C.{{Cite web|title=Calories in Sunny D - Calorie, Fat, Carb, Fiber, & Protein Info|url=https://www.sparkpeople.com/calories-in.asp?food=sunny+d|access-date=2021-04-21|website=SparkPeople|language=en|archive-date=2021-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421033620/https://www.sparkpeople.com/calories-in.asp?food=sunny+d|url-status=live}}

SunnyD started out with only one flavor: orange. Now it comes in multiple flavors: Tangy Original, Smooth Orange, Orange Strawberry, Orange Mango, Orange Peach, Watermelon, Fruit Punch, Peach, Mango, Blue Raspberry, Cherry Limeade, Lemonade, and Orange Pineapple.{{Cite web|url=https://sunnyd.com/flavors/|title=Flavors Archive|website=SunnyD|access-date=2019-05-16|archive-date=2019-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415194626/https://sunnyd.com/flavors/|url-status=live}}

Ingredients

{{As of|2020}} in the United States:{{Cite web|title=Sunny D Tangy Original|url=https://www.fooducate.com/product/Sunny-D-Tangy-Original/8CA450A8-0CF6-11E0-BF92-FEFD45A4D471|access-date=2020-05-07|website=www.fooducate.com|language=en|archive-date=2023-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407023215/https://www.fooducate.com/product/Sunny-D-Tangy-Original/8CA450A8-0CF6-11E0-BF92-FEFD45A4D471|url-status=live}}

Promotional campaigns

=Reach for the Sun Bottle Hunt=

Image:Sunnyd-transbottle.png.]]

In the middle of the 1990s, Sunny Delight sponsored an early internet contest promoting their beverage. For the game, the "Reach for the Sun Bottle Hunt", simple graphics depicting Sunny Delight bottles were incorporated into independent American web sites. The site locations were various personal home pages or more well known internet resources.

At the main contest site, riddles were provided weekly to help people discover each of the sites displaying a hidden bottle. Participants were encouraged to use the newest search engines in combination with the riddles.

Initially appearing in 1996 and gaining widespread attention, the contest was repeated three times over the course of a year and a half, and over 4,000 prizes were awarded during each iteration, ranging from T-shirts to college scholarships. As a pioneering internet advertising meme, it set the stage for years of later web marketing promotions.[https://books.google.com/books?id=o_mIiLQrNnsC&pg=PA132&dq=sunny+delight+internet+scavenger+hunt&ei=W4xOSKb4K5TIsQP-0uX2CQ&sig=nzKR1Dv4UDdby5JAXJo3xktvt6s Sales Promotion Essentials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909033628/https://books.google.com/books?id=o_mIiLQrNnsC&pg=PA132&dq=sunny+delight+internet+scavenger+hunt&ei=W4xOSKb4K5TIsQP-0uX2CQ&sig=nzKR1Dv4UDdby5JAXJo3xktvt6s |date=2023-09-09 }}, Don E. Schultz, et al., 1998Dan Janal's Guide to Marketing on the Internet, Daniel S. Janal, 2000.

=Peel 'n Taste Flavor Strips=

In July 2009, to promote the company's Sunny Delight Smoothies, the company partnered with Food Lion supermarkets to place SunnyD Smoothies Peel 'n Taste flavor samplers in the aisles where Sunny Delight products were located.{{ cite news |author=Greenberg, Karl |title=Sunny D Brings Peel 'n Taste To The Grocery |url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=110783 |work=MediaPost.com |date=July 30, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801094222/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=110783 |archive-date=August 1, 2009 }}

=Reformulation=

In recent years,{{When|date=February 2019}} the artificial sweetener sucralose has been added in combination with high fructose corn syrup, in order to cut the calorie count.{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnyd.com/flavors/index.html#tangy|title=Tangy Original|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116021004/https://sunnyd.com/flavors/index.html|archive-date=16 January 2016}}

As of 2023, North American Sunny Delight contains 2% or less concentrated fruit juice.{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/health/19-foods-that-arent-food|title=19 foods that aren't food|date=March 25, 2015|website=Prevention Magazine|via=Fox News|access-date=November 4, 2021|archive-date=November 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104204801/https://www.foxnews.com/health/19-foods-that-arent-food|url-status=live}}

Controversies

In the United Kingdom, there were many negative press reports about the product, following an investigation by The Food Commission, an independent consumer organisation in the United Kingdom.

In December 1999, according to a report by BBC News, the negative publicity escalated when a Sunny Delight television commercial showing a snowman turning orange was released, at about the same time as reports of a four-year-old girl who experienced her skin turning orange – due to the product's use of beta-Carotene for color – after drinking an estimated 1.5 liters of Sunny Delight a day.Clayton, Jennifer. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3257820.stm The rise and fall of Sunny Delight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029052921/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3257820.stm |date=2005-10-29 }}, BBC News, December 3, 2003[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/578945.stm Soft drink turned toddler 'yellow'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213095714/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/578945.stm |date=2007-12-13 }}, BBC News, December 26, 1999{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/too-much-sunny-delight-turns-girls-skin-yellow-1134703.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/too-much-sunny-delight-turns-girls-skin-yellow-1134703.html |archive-date=2022-05-25 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Too much Sunny Delight turns girl's skin yellow|date=1999-12-27|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-01-08|language=en-GB}}

Sales had halved by 2001, and the drink was redesigned and reinvented in March 2003 as "SunnyD". In the United Kingdom, SunnyD was relaunched in March 2009, with a new formulation containing 70% fruit juice and no artificial ingredients or added sugar. However, amid declining sales, the product was further reformulated in April 2010, as a lower priced beverage containing only 15% fruit juice.{{cite web |url=https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/sunny-delight-drops-fruit-content-and-rsp-to-stem-sales-decline/208375.article |title=Sunny Delight drops fruit content and rsp to stem sales decline |publisher=www.thegrocer.co.uk |date=3 April 2010 |first=Alex |last=Beckett |access-date=2017-06-26 |archive-date=2017-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906181527/https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/sunny-delight-drops-fruit-content-and-rsp-to-stem-sales-decline/208375.article |url-status=live }}

In January 2024, the drink was the subject of BBC Radio 4's consumer programme Sliced Bread Presents: Toast, which discussed "why sales of Sunny Delight faltered in the UK after an extremely successful launch".{{cite episode| title= Toast - Sunny Delight| series= Sliced Bread Presents | network= BBC| station= BBC Radio 4| airdate= 11 January 2024| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001v3z4 | accessdate= 11 January 2024 }}

The brand's Twitter account is known for its odd tweets; one particular tweet, saying "I can't do this anymore" created extensive engagement from other brands, but has received criticism for trivializing and monetizing mental illness.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eater.com/2019/2/4/18211094/sunny-d-tweet|title=Depression Shouldn't Be a #Brand Engagement Strategy|first=Greg|last=Morabito|date=February 4, 2019|website=Eater|access-date=July 19, 2022|archive-date=July 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719092036/https://www.eater.com/2019/2/4/18211094/sunny-d-tweet|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/quartzy/1542797/snack-twitter-from-whoopie-pies-to-corn-nuts-is-rallying-around-a-depressed-sunnyd/|title=Snack Twitter, from Whoopie Pies to Corn Nuts, is rallying around a depressed SunnyD|first=Sangeeta|last=Singh-Kurtz|date=February 5, 2019|website=Quartz|access-date=July 19, 2022|archive-date=July 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719092036/https://qz.com/quartzy/1542797/snack-twitter-from-whoopie-pies-to-corn-nuts-is-rallying-around-a-depressed-sunnyd/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/sunny-d-is-tweeting-about-depression-because-capitalism-in|title=Sunny Delight Shared A Depressing Tweet And People Are Actually Reaching Out To Do A Wellness Check On The Brand|first=Tanya|last=Chen|website=BuzzFeed News|date=4 February 2019 |access-date=2022-07-19|archive-date=2022-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623130606/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/sunny-d-is-tweeting-about-depression-because-capitalism-in|url-status=live}}