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Little known in our regions, the Real Facts of Snapple somewhat akin to Carambar jokes. Except that the 1,677 anecdotes found since 2002 on the bottle caps of the brand of tea and juice, from the Keurig Dr Pepper group, are supposed to be true (hence their name). Some indeed are – flamingos turn really pink after eating shrimp (Real Facts No. 11); human brains weigh a good 1,500 g (n°55) and the Hawaiian alphabet really has 12 letters (n°26) – but others are downright bogus, and many border on the absurd…
On its website, the brand acknowledges this: sometimes new information is discovered that disproves or renders obsolete one or another “true fact”…”In this case, the only responsible thing to do is to remove this fact“, agrees Snapple.
But in the beverage maker’s mind, whether these little messages are true or false ultimately matters very little; what matters is their virality.
Lying to your audience?
But what about the ethical aspect of this marketing strategy? Can a trademark intentionally convey fake news to advertise? Snapple replies that it has always refrained from lying to its public and assures that it invests in verification tools (fact checking).
The latest, launched on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Real Factshas the name Snapple fAIct Generator, and for once, you immediately understand that the brand is surfing on a completely different buzz: ChatGPT. The tool in question is indeed powered by the now famous technology of OpenAI and, we are told, will allow users to create and share new supposedly real facts via social media. The goal is to create a database of all the newly created facts for an exploitation planned for 2024. Snapple’s marketing manager, Kelli Freeman, does not budge: she explains without laughing that this tool, which we can activate via a QR code on the SnapplefAIcts.com site, will not control the world but give the opportunity to a new generation of fans to rediscover the fun side of Real Facts in the light of artificial intelligence.
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