Target a cultural contradictionDuring the 1980s the United States was
led by President Reagan and going through hard times in order to
become a more dynamic economy. The labour market was marked by
constant restructuring and downsizing. Around 1990 the labour market
had become quite unbalanced, with companies and elites profiting well
but also large parts of the population left with ‘McJobs’, sparking a
current of discontent and disbelief in corporate America as well as
among elected officials. Snapple managed to address this societal
imbalance – or cultural contradiction – by authoring a myth about a
company run by amateurs, indirectly suggesting that the ‘overpaid’
elites in marketing departments of other companies were not needed at
all. Consuming a bottle of Snapple became a way of embracing that
cultural meaning.
Act as a cultural activist Before the rest of the world became truly
aware of the powerful tensions in US society, Snapple acted as an insti-
gator of the new myths regarding the company run by a bunch of
playful amateurs, giving vent to deep societal frustration. Thereby,
Snapple managed to comment on an important tension before most
people managed to even verbalize the problems.
Create original expressive culture as an artistSnapple’s branding
activities (new product development, advertising, design and
promotion) were radically new in aesthetics, and yet unified in the
expression of the brand’s political voice. All these activities displayed
an ironic comment on the society at the time through a credible aura
of amateurism. Tennis player Ivan Lendl became a spokesperson
because he was a fan, even though he mispronounced the brand name
in the television ads. ‘Wendy the Snapple lady’ became a star of many
television ads. Wendy was a clerk working at Snapple who had taken
up the job of answering letters from consumers. Wendy, who was
quite far from the beauty standards of advertising, become very
popular as ‘the real thing’. To mock the celebrity events sponsored by
competing companies such as Coca-cola and Pepsi, Snapple became
the sponsor of events like cherry spitting in Minnesota and yo-yo
tossing in New York.
Develop an authentic populist voiceSnapple hired two radio hosts as
endorsers of the brand. Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern could not be
more different, coming from both ends of the political spectrum, but
both represented defiance against the establishment and expressed a
genuine affection for Snapple. Their endorsement is one example of
how Snapple gained credibility from a populist epicentre.
