Fruity fun- but don't be blinded by the marketing (Innocent Smoothies)

Member Name: jelibaby

Product:	Innocent Smoothies
Date:	03/08/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: full of vitamins and fibre, ethical practices

Disadvantages: some practices are not totally fulfilled, lots of sugar

Being home for the summer has it's benefits- as a poor student I would never have splashed out on expensive fruit smoothies but my Mom will sometimes buy treats! It's a miracle if I manage to get to them before my greedy, teenage brothers inhail the fridge, but I've been managing to get to the smoothies while they glug the Coke!

Innocent Smoothies are infamous for their huge following. They really jumped on such a successful concept, good for them! They promise to offer ethical, healthy and affordable drinks made entirely of fruit. Sounds good!

Well this isn't always so heavenly, as the little logo cartoon shows...

Health benefits/problems

The main advantage of the drink is that you know what you're getting. For example, the Strawberry and Banana smoothie contains 34 strawberries, 6 apples, 2.5 bananas, 2 oranges, 19 grapes and a squeeze of lime. I've examined the pack but they don't hold the recommended percentages, but it seems each 250ml glass will contain 30g of sugar. I have read in the past that smoothies are not the healthiest drink you can have, as they are full of sugar. Especially when it's washing over your teeth, it's not recommended to drink these constantly.

But you cannot deny the health benefits. a 250ml glass contains 2 of your 5-a-day, 15% of the recommended fibre intake, and lots of fruity vitamins.

The Cost

These smoothies are certainly not cheap, and can be up to £3 a carton, £2 for a little bottle. The carton states that this is cheaper than making the drink yourself by buying and blending all the fruit at home, but as water is pretty beneficial in itself, it's so much cheaper!

If I ever feel like a smoothie on a lunch break, I always buy a supermarket's own brand. And if I'm in the town centre, Aldi do lovely smoothies for around 70p! I usually get my Innocent smoothies with a Boots £3 meal deal, where the drinks and inclusive.

Ethical benefits/problems

Innocent promise all their packaging is recycled, recyclable, isn't sent by air freight and sourced ethically from Rainforest Alliance farms. They also give 10% of profits to charity.

But Innocent serve their smoothies in McDonalds for Happy Meals, and recently sold 20% of the company to Coca Cola in April. These are certainly less ethical companies and you could accuse Innocent of 'selling out'.

The fun

Innocent appear to be cute and friendly by putting jokes on their packaging, and even saying you can pop into their headquarters if you like. This is great marketing but really in times like these, you have to look at the cost and value over gimmicks.

In the end, it's all about the taste...

I've tried many smoothies, and Innocent are not particularly my favourite. They are VERY thick, so can feel almost stodgy, and you can feel them in your stomach for a while. Smoothies are the sort of this that look appealing in the bottle, but they aren't very refreshing, so often you still feel like a drink after!

They aren't too sweet or sour, it's obvious that they spend a long time making the taste perfect. It's lovely, but sometimes they feel almost more like a dessert than a drink!

The packaging

The little bottles are just enough for a lunch time snack, but the lids really annoy me. They are really large, so you cannot take a sip without getting smoothie all over your top lip and mouth! You can never get the bit at the bottom either!

The cartons are fine though, but still there's usually a lot left in the carton. This cannot be helped as it's just the texture of the drink sadly. My carton does get a little messy around the lid too as fruit can be sticky and it comes out slowly.

Overall...

As I'm a marketing student, I'm quite critical of marketing practices and try to look to the product overall than it's appearance. Therefore if I am after a smoothie, I still try to check out the others on the market and go by my favourite taste, rather than the sound or packaging.

Summary: Know all the facts before believing the hype!