By Matt Casey
Snapple might have once given Wendy Kaufman – better known as “Wendy the Snapple Lady” – a Fifth Avenue parade, but the former spokeswoman this week gave current Snapple management a big ‘ole raspberry.
“The people who run it now.... they are morons and they do not care about this brand and its history,” she said. “I love Snapple... Just not the people... and the memory of Snapple.... It’s weird, I know.”
Kaufman spoke Wednesday in a live online chat at AdweekMedia Connect that centered on how a spokesperson can make it into the mainstream media. But she spent part of the hour reminiscing about her time with Snapple and lamenting what it has become.
Kaufman, who starred in her first Snapple commercial in 1993, panned Snapple’s new formulation, packaging and marketing (“I never thought they did a great campaign after mine”) as well as the brand’s new management.
Kaufman parted from the Dr Pepper Snapple Group last May over a new contract that she described as “one-sided” and “worth nothing.” She revealed yesterday that after her departure – which she described this week as being as “unceremoniously booted” – four beverage companies contacted her for spokeswoman gigs. She declined to name the companies, but said they were “smaller brands...wanting to get on the map for a quick hit.”
She opted not to sign with any of them, partly, she said, because she didn’t want to be a “one-hit wonder,” but also “[because] I felt like I’d be a traitor to a brand that I loved.”
Despite her harsh comments, Snapple Spokesman Greg Artkop said “We love Wendy.”
“She's been a big part of Snapple's history and we love what she's done for the brand... It was her decision not to stay with Snapple and we respect that. We wish her nothing but the best in whatever she does in the future.”
And that future appears to be as unpredictable as her past has been. Outside of Snapple, Kaufman has created a line of active wear for plus-sized women, made appearances on Fox News as a “fatvocate,” and participated not once, but twice on vh1’s celebrity fit club.
Her next venture?
“Infomercials,” she said. “Watch your ass, Billy Mays.”
Source: BevNET.com Staff