Comments on: Where monster frozen treats go to die

Where monster frozen treats go to die

clgregor — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:42:51 -0800

Snapple attempts, and fails, to make record-breaking popsicle. Here's more. Publicity stunts gone wrong!

By: iamck

iamck — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:52:16 -0800

NSFW banner adverts? Seriously man, I just had someone walk in....

By: clgregor

clgregor — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:54:05 -0800

Sorry, I have Adblock running...didn't see them. So, beware the semi NSFW banner ads!

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:55:21 -0800

It would have been doubly tragic if David Blain had been frozen inside. Here's the press release with photos. Until Snapple gets off the High Fructose Corn Syrup base thing, they won't be getting any money from me. I pretty much only drink Fuze for juice refreshment now because they use crystalline fructose instead of HFCS. Best quote from the link - "It wasn't a bad smell. But the people stepping in it were not pleased," Giddon added. "People were pretty bummed out with what was going on with their shoes." I hate it when I get bummed out about what's heppening with my shoes.

By: gurple

gurple — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:02:43 -0800

Snapple seems to be trying to gloss over the incident by downplaying the problem -- "New Yorkers had a great time kicking off the first day of summer." Me, if I want to hear anything about this from Snapple I want them to assure me that they're paying through the nose for all the property damage. Effing commercialism.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:04:07 -0800

Crack Snapple Pop!

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:06:25 -0800

What's NSFW? I see no naughty banners...

By: Soliloquy

Soliloquy — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:08:19 -0800

Maybe this a sign of the Apocalypse; the streets ran red with strawberry-kiwi slush, after all.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:14:26 -0800

People should have been wearing Jesus sandals. That way they could have walked above "the red tide."

By: santiagogo

santiagogo — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:17:01 -0800

Me, if I want to hear anything about this from Snapple I want them to assure me that they're paying through the nose for all the property damage. I agree... if that runaway bride ended up paying $15,000 for search expenses (which, IMO, is more likely the result of the medias-overhype), then Snapple should certainly have to pay for the NYPD to come hose down our streets. It's a travishamockery!

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:18:25 -0800

How was this not planned for at all? Was it just not supposed to ever melt? Or were they supposed to display it, then take it down while it was still solid and haul it off? Monumentally stupid.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:20:58 -0800

So in other words, they got about a hundred times as much press as they would have if they'd done this right. --- I pretty much only drink Fuze for juice refreshment now because they use crystalline fructose instead of HFCS. Why would crystal fructose any better then in syurp form? I thought the problem was the fructose itself, not the other components of the syurp. Fructose disoved in water is fructose disolved in water regardless of what it looked like before it got put in. Also, don't most fruits natrualy contain fructose rather then sucrose?

By: jikel_morten

jikel_morten — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:22:31 -0800

Man, Snapple does some good work.

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:27:45 -0800

It reminds me of the bungled Dasani launch and following fiasco in the UK last year. Although I dont think a giant ice pole could kill anyone (unless it flattened them). By the way, is it true that there is no real sugar (as opposed to some corn syrup concotion) in Coke et al in the US? A friend assures me that the taste is no match for the sugarific stuff elsewhere.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:33:04 -0800

ClanvidHorse : "By the way, is it true that there is no real sugar (as opposed to some corn syrup concotion) in Coke et al in the US?" According to Snopes, yes. Real sugar was phased out gradually, and the phase-out was finished by 1985, before New Coke was launched. And no, American Coke is no match for countries where sugar is still used.

By: whatzit

whatzit — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:35:43 -0800

ClanvidHorse: Corn subsidies make it more profitable to process corn into HFCS for soft drinks and to do other stuff with the sugar. Sugared colas in the US are either exclusive/"natural" brands and I believe also "kosher for Passover" Coca Cola.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:36:13 -0800

God, so f'ing stupid. What were they thinking?!?!? ClavindHorse- Yeah, pretty much. What you want to look for is the "Kosher for Passover" Coke (I'm serious)- that has real sugar in it.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:04:08 -0800

By the way, is it true that there is no real sugar (as opposed to some corn syrup concotion) in Coke et al in the US? A friend assures me that the taste is no match for the sugarific stuff elsewhere. Well, chemicaly fructose and sucrose are both sugars, along with glucose, and tagatose and xylose, etc. Sucrose is what we call table sugar and comes from sugar cane and (I think) sugar beets. Fructose comes from corn, and (I think) fruits. Some people belive that the process that breaks down fructose into glucose is more harmfull for the body then the process that breaks down sucrose into glucose. If thats the case, obviously it wouldn't make much diffrence if it was in flake or syurp form. Most people say that pop sweetened with sucrose is much better then pop sweetened with fructose, but I've never tried it.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:07:39 -0800

delmoi, after doing a little research, you're pretty well right. Looks like no more Fuze either. But check out this article on why HFCS is so dangerous. This, in particular, is damned scary, "Today approximately 25 percent of our average caloric intake comes from sugars, with the larger fraction as fructose."

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:14:08 -0800

Not quite right, bugbread. For complicated reasons some kinds of Jews don't believe that corn syrup is kosher, so each year around Pesach, Coke manufactures and sells some Coke marked "Kosher For Passover". That Coke is made only with sugar, and not HFCS. I don't drink the stuff at all, being a Diet Coke addict, but my friends who do say the kosher stuff is the best. Of course Boylan's Cane Cola is also out there -- pure cane sugar only. Pretty tasty the one time I tried it. P.S. According to New York 1 this morning, Snapple will be paying the City for all costs associated with clean up.

By: gnutron

gnutron — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:21:20 -0800

some great pics in the links. particularly the shots of the saucy snapple girl....

By: gnutron

gnutron — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:25:17 -0800

also, nice link fen. i knew NFCS was bad, but not *that* bad.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:51:04 -0800

The Bellman : "Not quite right, bugbread...each year around Pesach, Coke manufactures and sells some Coke marked 'Kosher For Passover'." D'oh!! I never thought I'd see the day Snopes let me down. (shakes fist in anger at sky).

By: muppetboy

muppetboy — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:04:01 -0800

who says this went wrong? they got infinitely more publicity out of this /because/ it "went wrong". maybe this was the plan all along...

By: Lord Kinbote

Lord Kinbote — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:07:14 -0800

PICS vs. HFCS: You can buy Dr. Pepper made with Pure Imperial Cane Sugar. The only bottler in America still makin DP w/PICS is in Dublin, Texas. I have drunk a whole case bought on the Internet, and I gotta say, it's a great tasting drink. Much smoother and less sticky than DP w/HFCS. Intellectual Property Rant: That frozen tower of HFCS which melted all over Union Square was not a popsicle. Popsicles® are only made by Good Humor-Breyer Ice Cream: Popsicle® is a registered trademark of Unilever. Newsday got it right, calling it an "ice pop", but The Associated Press story calls it a popsicle repeatedly.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:26:39 -0800

muppetboy : "they got infinitely more publicity out of this /because/ it 'went wrong'. maybe this was the plan all along..." Yeah, but they're already extremely well known. Any publicity is good publicity until you're in the top tier. After that, good publicity is good publicity.

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:35:34 -0800

I wasn't really getting the vibe until I checked a photo and saw a crane in use. Snapple-genius.

By: team lowkey

team lowkey — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 16:02:51 -0800

Crack Snapple Pop! -hal9k Man, I don't know where you stole that joke from, but well done! Once in a lifetime opportunity.

By: theonetruebix

theonetruebix — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 16:32:56 -0800

Well, she certainly looks sad about the failed ice pop.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 17:56:52 -0800

Thanks team howley: Its mine. Hopefully it'll be on a front page tomorrow.

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 18:45:14 -0800

Haha, I saw this in the briefs in the NY Times and the 30 word summary is now ripped out in my wallet. I personally like the idea of the huge popsicle, I wish they had succeeded gloriously.

By: ensign_ricky

ensign_ricky — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 18:57:12 -0800

A couple of HFCS vs sugar thoughts. The passover Coke is good, much better than HFCS Coke. If you have any grocery stores in your area that specialize in Mexican food, you can probably buy Mexican Coke in the big 16oz (0.5 liter actually). It's worth an extra trip, as it's AMAZING compared to the swill that they produce here in the states. It's crisp and interesting, lots of distinct flavors. Those of you that drank Coke before the early 80s changeover will probably have a "wow! this tastes like Coke did when I was a kid" moment. All of the soda in Mexico is much more interesting than the stuff in the US. If you have a chance to travel to Mexico, take a pass on a margarita or two and try a Coke, Pepsi, or Mt. Dew. You'll get really angry at the corn industry once you taste what soda used to (and should) taste like. The Dublin Dr. Pepper is quite a treat too. I had a friend drive me back 48 bottles of that stuff a while ago, and I can't drink regular Dr. Pepper anymore. I remember reading somewhere that HFCS has a tendency to deaden your tastebuds more than sucrose, and so you tend to taste the sweetness of the HFCS more than anything else. OTOH, sucrose doesn't overwhelm the flavor, and allows you to actually taste the subtleties of the soda.

By: Dukebloo

Dukebloo — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 21:58:12 -0800

NSFW banner on adrants is actually for an advertising award website using porno-styled themes.

By: state fxn

state fxn — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 02:22:38 -0800

Crack Snapple Pop! posted by hal9k at 1:04 PM PST on June 22 I thought that was a rather clever play on Kellogg's Rice Krispies' "Snap! Crackle! Pop!"Ò On the topic of the different types of sugars and to those who are consistently health conscious: if frustose in high amounts is bad, and sucrose, the common table sugar consists of half glucose half fructose, which sugar should we be eating instead?

By: mhh5

mhh5 — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 03:10:55 -0800

state fxn: which sugar should we be eating instead? D-tagatose

By: Julnyes

Julnyes — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:39:30 -0800

I never saw that adrants website before - thanks for the link. and I remember wondering why the heck Snapple had a crane in Union Square, but I and all my co-workers were too lazy to leave the office and actually look at it - thanks for clearing up this mystery for us.