Parents and Kids Are Still Being Fooled by Beverage Marketers

Deceptive ads sugarcoat fruity drinks aimed at kids

Each of these fruity looking drinks contains about 2 teaspoons of sugar per pouch. Neither contains any real juice. Photos courtesy of the author.

Misleading and deceptive labels on sweetened drinks aimed at children contribute to their dominance over real juice — the stuff made 100% from fruit — in sales nationwide, a new report finds. 62% of fruit drinks and flavored waters intended for kids contain added sugars (known to contribute to obesity, heart disease, and other health problems over time) or low-calorie sweeteners that experts fear simply get kids hooked on sweet food and drinks in general.

Some of the marketing tactics — colorful packages, wild flavor names, and cartoon characters — date back decades, when tobacco companies bought sugary drink brands like Hawaiian Punch and Kool-Aid, and employed their marketing know-how to peddle the products to children.

The study analyzed 34 different sweetened drinks (including SunnyD and Minute Maid Lemonade) and 33 drinks without added sweeteners (including Juicy Juice and Apple & Eve) from 23 brands, all part of a $2.2 billion industry of fruit drinks, flavored waters, and powdered drink mixes aimed primarily at children under 12, on which companies spent $20.7 million in 2018 advertising.

All were marketed for consumption by kids. The products were identified based on the…