The sun is shining, you’re at the beach and you’ve got a nice, cold bottle of Lipton Peach Ice Tea in hand. Does life get any better than this?
Well, it seems it certainly can get a lot worse… and for 24 hours it did.
That’s because Lipton had many Brits convinced that summer was ‘ruined’ after it shared its iconic peach flavour was being discontinued. Say it ain’t so!
Without any warning, the ice tea brand took to social media claiming they were axing the drink and apologising for ‘any inconvenience caused’.
The post read: ‘You may have heard that our iconic Peach Lipton Ice Tea flavour is getting discontinued. We know – it hurts (sorry if we’ve ruined your go-to afternoon chill bev).
‘But don’t worry, the rest of your faves are still here to keep you refreshed. And who knows? Maybe one day, Peach will make a legendary comeback.
‘We appreciate your understanding during this period of adjustment and apologise for any inconvenience caused. #RIPeach.’
The announcement quickly went viral, garnering thousands of comments – many of which were filled with outrage, disbelief and general backlash, as people were ‘distraught’ by the news.
However, just one day later the brand has done a U-turn on the decision and confirmed it was just a joke and Peach Ice Tea is here to stay.
‘Oops, is it still March? Got my dates mixed up… thought it was April Fools already! I’d never take away your favourite flavour, pookies,’ they said.
But people haven’t been placated by the confirmation that the beloved drink isn’t going anywhere, instead they’ve branded the brand’s actions ‘cruel’ and a ‘horrible prank’ that left Brits ‘on the verge of tears’.
An Instagram user known as @7ouzia wasn’t amused in the slightest, saying: ‘Let’s be clear – never, EVER try to pull this stunt again! This was NOT a funny prank; it was pure stress for all of us who love Peach Lipton. Don’t mess with perfection! Keep it on the shelves forever.’
As @jleigh_o wrote: ‘FML the unnecessary trauma today.’ Similarly, @cestmoivivii said: ‘Can we not with this new marketing strategy, it’s annoying.’
And @hassandraws proclaimed: ‘I want to be compensated in ice tea of the grief this caused.’ While @loredeloreto posted: ‘You made me cry!!! Compensate me.’
A few people were also mortified they’d gone to extreme lengths after falling for the stunt. @taylrsstillhere admitted: ‘I quite literally emailed the prime minister about this.’
‘I literally screamed at my mother to buy 15,000 bottles,’ added @arnopersoons.
Others demanded an apology, as it didn’t go unnoticed that the word ‘sorry’ had been absent from the second statement.
In the UK, Lipton is owned by Britvic, under an agreement with PepsiCo.
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The peach flavour was first launched in 2004, just two years after the brand made its debut in the UK. However, there have been several other ice tea flavours sold by the brand over the years, including lemon, raspberry, mango and mint and lime.
Most recently Lipton has started producing a new kombucha range, with options including Mango Passionfruit, Strawberry Mint and Raspberry.
Speaking about this launch, Ben Parker, the VP of sales off-trade for Carlsberg Britvic, said: ‘We know how popular the kombucha trend is and believe Lipton has created a product that can introduce even more people to the category and its benefits.
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‘As a brand, we are in a good position to grow an exciting category and we’re really looking forward to shoppers being able to try the flavours and for retailers to reap the current untapped rewards of stocking it.’
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