The Scoop: Tropicana’s OJ carton PR disaster

Quick, think of Tropicana orange juice.

You’re probably picturing a clear plastic carafe with a long, slender neck bearing an image of a straw-punctured orange.

But a new change has upended that clear branding position — and is costing the company big bucks.

CNN reports that Tropicana replaced its iconic carafe over the summer with a new container sporting a much shorter neck. That design is meant to reduce the plastic used in manufacturing and to make it easier for customers to pour. Notably, the bottle also holds just 46 ounces of orangey goodness, down from 52 ounces in the old bottle.

To compensate, the new bottle is intended to retail for 70 cents less than its predecessor — a good deal, given that you’re getting 11% less juice but paying about 15% less. However, some stores reportedly have not taken the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and are selling the new, shrunken bottles for the old price, leading to accusations of shrinkflation.

Customers also claim the new bottles are harder to pour and that they just don’t look as nice.

The fallout has been tangible. As of October, sales of Tropicana were down 19% year over year. It has yielded up to 4% of its market share to competitor Simply Orange.

Why it matters: Multiple hot-button topics are converging into one single snafu.

The topic of shrinkflation, or getting less product for the same cost, has dominated the conversation for years now, and customers are fed up. Major players like PepsiCo, which owns Lay’s and Doritos, have added volume back to their snacks to lure customers back. But in this case, Tropicana’s guidance on pricing has been ignored, leaving customers with less juice.

There’s also the emotional attachment people feel to the ubiquitous items they use every day. Tropicana differentiated itself with a bottle that conveyed freshness and familiarity, then took it away.

The CNN article notes that Tropicana has faced backlash before over packaging changes. In 2009, it changed its logo from that orange with a straw to a basic glass of orange juice.

Consumers were having none of it. Sales plummeted 20%. The logo was rolled back just six weeks later.

This time, it’s unlikely to back down so quickly — it’s far more expensive to change a bottle design than a label.

“Changes can take time, and after just a few months, we’re continuing to do what we can to help shoppers get accustomed to our new look,” a spokesperson told CNN, saying in-store elements and advertising were helping to tell their new story.

People are change averse, and sometimes they’ll quickly adjust. But a 19% sales decline is worrisome on every level. More storytelling and explanation on the front-end could have helped ease the transition, as well as research beforehand to understand the attachment to the old bottle.

We’ll see if customers give it a fair squeeze.

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Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.