03/04/2007 08:38:00 AM 
"Everything that remains in the can is from a natural source," said the brand's marketing VP.
They even have a spot that showed their cans being picked from fruit trees.
The problem for 7-UP; an organization called CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) didn't like the all natural claim and filed a lawsuit against the brand's owner Cadbury-Schweppes. CSPI thought the presence of factory made high fructose corn syrup, which remained as one of the drink's ingredients, for a brand that was making the all natural claim. Cadbury settled and agreed not to use the term.
As issues relating to health and the environment become more and more appealing and essential to consumers, it's going to be easy for brands to try and capitalize on these needs and use the most differentiating claim that their corporate lawyers will allow.
However, this tactic is straight from the C20th century industrial marketing playbook, treating the consumer as a target who will blindly believe anything they are told. The problem is that today, if your claims not really true or deceptive, they get found out, either by industry watchdogs, consumer groups or individual bloggers and once out in the open, it's pretty hard to control.
Clearly Cadbury's idea of an all natural 7-UP is the right one, perhaps they should run a crowdsurfing experiment to help get the formula right?
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