Boing Boing is one of the few blog-like websites I read everyday, so I thought of the site when, in my local grocery store*, I ran across some bottled juice called "Boing!" The way they were all lined up on the shelf, they said "Boing Boing! Boing Boing!"
Closer inspection unsurprisingly revealed that the juice (like many things at this market) was made in Mexico. Although they didn't look very tasty, I picked up a few bottles so I could send them to Boing Boing. After they cracked open in the mail, making a big mess and damaging a few USPS sorting machines (oops! -- good thing I purchased postal insurance!), I decided it would be easier just to take some digital photos and post them.
Here you see the bottles:
Fittingly, one half of the label is in Spanish:
De Pulpa 100% Natural [recuerdase esto para luego...es importante! -ADM]
BOING!
Fresa
Bebida de Fruta
Agitese Bien
Bebida sin gas
Cont. Net 346ml
The other half is in English:
From 100% Natural Pulp [remember this for later...it's important! -ADM]
BOING!
Strawberry
Fruit Beverage
Shake well
Non-carbonated
Net. Cont 11.7 fl. oz
Inspection of the label and caps reveals an intriguing contradiction. Click to zoom:
Wait a second! The front label says "De Pulpa 100% Natural"! And now we learn from the back label and the caps it's only 15 or 16% pulp! And there's "colorantes artificiales" in it like Rojo #17 and Amarillo #4! Not to mention the saborizante artificial! Boing Juice and Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores de Pascual, SCL --- What are you trying to pull?? And what kind of communist outfit are you, anyway?! I thought Boing! Juice was "a product you could trust" and now I find out it has artifical saborizantes in it. Something tells me Cory would not approve, even though he's obviously a communist himself.
I'm going to call (877) 77-BOING and get to the bottom of this.
But before I do, allow me to comment on sapiditous qualities of Boing! juice.
I tried the Strawberry (Fresa) variety...at room temperature, which is inadvisable. It doesn't taste precisely like anything I've had before. The closest analogue I can come up with is Ruby Red grapefruit juice, but blander and less sour and simultaneouly -- at first -- less sweet. But then once the aftertaste wallops you with the sugar, you'll feel a bit like you've just strained a shot of thinly flavored water through a cup of sugar right into your mouth. Boing juice doesn't taste like strawberries. Or maybe it just tastes like old strawberries that have been sitting next to a pile of rotten bananas for a few weeks at a Mexican juice factory.
It is clear that Boing juice is a less satisfactory product than its double-namesake and Cory et al. should sue to protect their copyright and trademark properties, NAFTA be damned.
Oh wait a second, you guys may be out of luck! The Sociedad Cooperativa has had rights to the brand "Boing!" since the 1960s! Uh-oh. Get EFF on the phone, quick!
photos courtesy of easteregg imaging, inc.
_____________
*Fine Fare on Second Avenue in East Harlem.
