Charlie's Group Limited is a New Zealand-based producer of

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

drinks. It is owned by the Japanese beverage company

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

. Charlie's was founded in 1999 by Marc Ellis, Stefan Lepionka and Simon Neal. Originally the company produced fresh

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As ...

; in 2001, Charlie's added other natural fruit juices. They also sell loose fruit, fruit smoothies and sports water flavoured with fruit juices. In May 2008, Charlie's launched a line of fruit-based

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

s. It marketed its products as "Honest", referring to the fact that the products are not from

concentrate A concentrate is a form of Chemical substance, substance that has had the majority of its diluting agent or diluent (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed, such that the substance becomes the majority of the composition. Typically, this w ...

with no sugar added. Charlie's listed on the

NZX New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. , the NZX had a total of 179 listed securiti ...

in 2006. In 2008, Charlie's opened a new plant in Renmark, South Australia. In 2007, a Charlie's

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

that featured children playing with

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

was banned in New Zealand after the Television Commercials Approval Bureau received letters of complaint. The commercial showed cartoon children allowing fireworks to explode between their teeth and shooting rockets at each other. The Acting Fire Service National Commander Paul McGill said :

"It's really disappointing that an advertiser will use this occasion to produce a commercial that glorifies behaviour that was unacceptable 20 years ago and is unacceptable today."

Ron Curteis, Charlie's Marketing Manager indicated that the commercial was not intended to condone such behavior and that they had not realised this sort of behavior was still a big issue. Marc Ellis, director of Charlie's, later called for an overhaul of the advertising rules noting that the same panel who banned the commercial had initially certified that the commercial met all advertising standards. The ban eventually became part of a larger discussion about the difference between content allowed in programming versus advertisement. In July 2011, Japanese beverage company

acquired Charlie's.

References

External links

Charlies Group

NZX overview
{{Authority control Asahi brands New Zealand drinks Beverage companies of New Zealand Food and drink companies based in Auckland Manufacturing companies based in Auckland Food and drink companies established in 1999 New Zealand companies established in 1999