Maybe this isn’t the best idea for a company that recently trumpeted its brand-new 12-oz. sizes as the perfect product for tucking into a schoolkid’s lunch box:

I mean, they couldn’t even spell “hooky” right. Power-C, indeed. How about Power-D-minus?

Using brands like Honest Tea (congrats on the ten-digit cash infustion, guys!) and Cinnabon (congrats on not being sued over all the cavities, guys!) as examples, today’s Wall Street Journal reported on the fact that Coke bottlers are trying to make money by selling drinks that aren’t made by Coke.

This was news to Coke. Not that their bottlers were selling non-Coke products, but that there WERE non-Coke products.

Best part of the story comes when a Coke spokesman explains “Our role is to create innovation in our categories and we are working closely with our system to do that.”

Dude. Mary Minnick. Your. Director. Of Innovation. Just. Quit.

Given the brand’s track record, when Cadbury Schweppes has said in the past that it was going to support Snapple, we’ve all scoffed a bit.

But not this time. The company is buying Snapple a Super-Bowl ad, and is praying for a tight game, as it’s for the fourth quarter.

Both Cadbury Schweppes and the Coca-Cola Co. are running ads, trying to horn in on longtime Super Bowl sponsor PepsiCo.

The ad shows how quickly an additive can catch fire. In promoting Snapple’s new Green Tea line, a young man searches the globe for the EGCG – the very same tea compound that Coke put forth three months ago as the key element to raising the human metabolic rate and burning calories in its own new tea, Enviga.

According to the PETA web site, POM Wonderful has agreed to “End Deadly Animal Tests.” The tests, which were intended to help discover how pomegranate juice can help treat human diseases and conditions, came under scrutiny during 2006.

The situation came to a head during late 2006 when several POM employees claimed to be threatened via telephone or by activists showing up at their homes. In addition, another activist group claimed to have tampered with almost 500 bottles of the product, resulting in removal of the product from Wild Oats. The claim was later determined to be a hoax.

Several other juice companies have also agreed to stop animal testing, so we guess we feel pretty good for the animals. But tell us: who speaks for the pomegranates? Who will stop this senseless juicing?

Read more:
PETA Release: http://www.peta.org/feat-pom-victory.asp
LA Times Article: http://www.animalliberationfront.com/News/2006_09/ActivistsTargetJuiceCo.htm