Funny Face Drink Mix was started by the Pillsbury Company in 1964. Initially it was started as a diet drink. It was a diet drink because, it contained no sugar but only artificial sweeteners were added to it. Funny Face Drink Mix used calcium cyclamate as a sweetener. But later calcium cyclamate was changed to saccharine because the FDA had banned cyclamates. But then it was promoted by Pillsbury as a children’s drink. Funny Face Drink Mix had a wide range of flavors. Pillsbury gave each of its flavors a unique character or a unique funny face. Due to effective advertising campaigns it appealed to a lot of children. Even parents preferred Funny Face Drink Mix because it contained no added sugar and was a very healthy alternative to carbonated drinks and fruit juices.

Before the production of Funny Face Drink Mix, Kool Aid was the market leader for children’s drinks. Funny Face Drink Mix faced direct competition with Kool Aid. Kool Aid Man was the only character which Kool Aid promoted while Funny Face Drink Mix promoted several characters. There was a unique character for each flavor. The flavors included:

• Lefty Lemonade which was later renamed as Lefty Lemon Lime
• Goofy Grape
• Freckle Face Strawberry
• Loud Mouth Lime which was later renamed as Loud Mouth Punch
• Rootin Tootin Raspberry
• Chinese Cherry which was later renamed as Choo Choo Cherry
• Injun Orange which was later renamed as Jolly Olly Orange
• Captain Black Cherry
• Rah! Rah! Root Beer
• Chilly Cherry Cola
• Pistol Pink Lemonade
• Ruddy Tutti Frutti
• “With It” Watermelon

Funny Face Drink Mix also had its own share of problems. On 2nd February 1966, Native Americans started protesting against the flavor Injun Orange of the Pillsbury Company. According to the Native Americans, the name Injun Orange was offensive label. Similarly many Asians also had a problem with the name Chinese Cherry. Therefore Pillsbury had to change the name Injun Orange to Jolly Olly Orange and Chinese Cherry to Choo Choo Cherry.

Pillsbury also had to entirely redesign the packaging of Funny Face Drink Mix because of the ban on cyclamates. Since Pillsbury could not use cyclamates, saccharine was used. But consumers immediately recognized the change in taste of the drink. Saccharine left an after taste in the drink which led to a severe drop in the sales of the product. Since Saccharine did not work, Funny Face Drink Mix did not add any sweetener at all. The products were again redesigned. The product design now included a “Just add sugar” label on it. Vitamin C was also added to the product. This helped in increasing the sales of the product immensely. Funny Face Drink Mix did very well against its competitor the Kool Aid Man.

Funny Face Drink Mix eventually lost its charm and hence was sold to Brady Enterprises. Brady Enterprises tried to revive the Drink Mix by starting anew flavor – Chocolate. But the flavor had a revolting name called Moo Juice. That was the end of Funny Face Drink Mix.

- Seema Khinnavar