SunnyD (named Sunny Delight prior to 2000) is an orange drink developed in 1963 by Doric Foods of Mount Dora, Florida, United States. Additional plants were built in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in 1974 and 1978, respectively. In April 1983, Sundor Brands bought out Doric Foods; Sundor Brands was then purchased by American multinational

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

in March 1989. The drink is superficially related to

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 ...

, but also resembles a

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 ...

without

carbonation Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic che ...

. The drink produced an estimated $455 million in revenue for Procter & Gamble in 2004. In 2005, Sunny Delight was spun off into the independent Sunny Delight Beverages Company (SDBC). The beverage is also distributed by Dr Pepper/Seven Up (DPSU). In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the drink is manufactured and distributed by Saputo. The beverage was launched in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in April 1998 with a £10 million promotional campaign, and by August 1999, it became the third biggest selling soft drink in the United Kingdom, behind

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

and

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

. It was sold in refrigerated cabinets, and marketed as a healthier alternative to

soft drinks A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used to be natural, but now can also be artificial. The sweet ...

despite neither being healthier nor requiring refrigeration. Despite the name, SunnyD is not a high source of

vitamin D Vitamin D is a group of structurally related, fat-soluble compounds responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, along with numerous other biological functions. In humans, the most important compo ...

, nor has it ever claimed to be; however, it contains significant amounts of

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits, berries and vegetables. It is also a generic prescription medication and in some countries is sold as a non-prescription di ...

. SunnyD started out with only one flavor: orange. Now it comes in multiple flavors: Tangy Original, Smooth Orange, Orange Strawberry, Orange Mango, Orange Peach, Watermelon, Fruit Punch, Peach, Mango, Blue Raspberry, Cherry Limeade, Lemonade, and Orange Pineapple.

Ingredients

in the United States: *Water *

High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose, and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzy ...

* 2% or less of the following: **

Citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the formula . It is a Transparency and translucency, colorless Weak acid, weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in Citrus, citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, ...

Ascorbic acid Ascorbic acid is an organic compound with formula , originally called hexuronic acid. It is a white solid, but impure samples can appear yellowish. It dissolves freely in water to give mildly acidic solutions. It is a mild reducing agent. Asco ...

** Thiamin hydrochloride **

Natural flavors A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive that is used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of t ...

** Modified cornstarch **

Canola oil Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historical ...

Sodium citrate Sodium citrate may refer to any of the sodium salts of citric acid (though most commonly the third): * Monosodium citrate * Disodium citrate * Trisodium citrate The three forms of salt are collectively known by the E number E331. Applications ...

** Cellulose gum **

Sucralose Sucralose is an artificial sweetener and sugar substitute. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number E955. It is produced by chlorination of sucrose, selectively replacing three of the hydroxy groups—in the C1 a ...

Acesulfame potassium Acesulfame potassium (, or ), also known as acesulfame K or Ace K, is a synthetic calorie-free sugar substitute (artificial sweetener) often marketed under the trade names Sunett and Sweet One. In the European Union, it is known under the E n ...

** Neotame **

Sodium hexametaphosphate Sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) is a salt (chemistry), salt of composition . Sodium hexametaphosphate of commerce is typically a mixture of metaphosphates (empirical formula: NaPO3), of which the hexamer is one, and is usually the compound referr ...

Potassium sorbate Potassium sorbate is the potassium salt of sorbic acid, structural formula CH3CH=CH−CH=CH−CO2K. It is a white salt that is very soluble in water (58.2% at 20 °C). It is primarily used as a food preservative (E number 202). Potassium ...

** Yellow #5 ** Yellow #6 ** Concentrated juices: *** Orange *** Tangerine *** Apple *** Lime *** Grapefruit *** Pear ** Red #33 ** Red #40

Promotional campaigns

Reach for the Sun Bottle Hunt

In the middle of the 1990s, Sunny Delight sponsored an early internet contest promoting their beverage. For the game, the "Reach for the Sun Bottle Hunt", simple graphics depicting Sunny Delight bottles were incorporated into independent American web sites. The site locations were various personal home pages or more well known internet resources. At the main contest site, riddles were provided weekly to help people discover each of the sites displaying a hidden bottle. Participants were encouraged to use the newest search engines in combination with the riddles. Initially appearing in 1996 and gaining widespread attention, the contest was repeated three times over the course of a year and a half, and over 4,000 prizes were awarded during each iteration, ranging from T-shirts to college scholarships. As a pioneering internet advertising meme, it set the stage for years of later web marketing promotions.

Peel 'n Taste Flavor Strips

In July 2009, to promote the company's Sunny Delight Smoothies, the company partnered with

Food Lion Food Lion is an American regional supermarket Chain store, chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1,000 supermarkets in 10 states: Delaware, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsyl ...

supermarkets to place SunnyD Smoothies Peel 'n Taste flavor samplers in the aisles where Sunny Delight products were located.

Reformulation

In recent years, the

artificial sweetener A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Arti ...

sucralose Sucralose is an artificial sweetener and sugar substitute. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number E955. It is produced by chlorination of sucrose, selectively replacing three of the hydroxy groups—in the C1 a ...

has been added in combination with high fructose corn syrup, in order to cut the calorie count. As of 2023, North American Sunny Delight contains 2% or less concentrated fruit juice.

Controversies

In the United Kingdom, there were many negative press reports about the product, following an investigation by The Food Commission, an independent consumer organisation in the United Kingdom. In December 1999, according to a report by

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, the negative publicity escalated when a Sunny Delight television commercial showing a snowman turning orange was released, at about the same time as reports of a four-year-old girl who experienced her skin turning orange – due to the product's use of beta-Carotene for color – after drinking an estimated 1.5 liters of Sunny Delight a day. Sales had halved by 2001, and the drink was redesigned and reinvented in March 2003 as "SunnyD". In the United Kingdom, SunnyD was relaunched in March 2009, with a new formulation containing 70% fruit juice and no artificial ingredients or added sugar. However, amid declining sales, the product was further reformulated in April 2010, as a lower priced beverage containing only 15% fruit juice. In January 2024, the drink was the subject of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's consumer programme ''Sliced Bread Presents: Toast'', which discussed "why sales of Sunny Delight faltered in the UK after an extremely successful launch". The brand's

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account is known for its odd tweets; one particular tweet, saying "I can't do this anymore" created extensive engagement from other brands, but has received criticism for trivializing and monetizing

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Official site

Official UK site

Official Spanish site

A profile at BBC News
Former Procter & Gamble brands Juice brands Products introduced in 1963 Soft drinks