Fun Facts About The Florida Orange Advertising Game

When you think about Florida what pops into your mind? Disney World, hurricanes, retired New Yorkers, Miami Vice or sun kissed Florida oranges. With the possible exception of Disney World, the oranges probably were first on your list and with good reason.

Disney has spent a fortune promoting Disney World. We’ve all seen the “winners” commercials haven’t we? “Team Sweden you’ve just won the Olympic Gold Medal for women’s curling. What are you going to do now?” “We’re gonna pack up our stones and go to Disney World!” Sure you are.

Florida orange growers don’t stoop to such crass appeal as hero worship for their ads. The Florida orange ads have real, meaty, informative content like if you don’t drink orange juice everyday you’ll probably get cancer and your teeth will fall out. Do you see the difference here? Good solid consumer health fear is a great, and legitimate, advertising tool.

But wait it gets better. Florida is the largest producer of oranges in the United States but Brazil leads in the worldwide production of the fruit. If you are a country that harvests more oranges than any on earth do you think you might try to sell some to the largest consumer economy on the planet? Of course you would and that’s just what they do. Many “American” brands of orange juice, particularly the concentrates, have juice from Brazil mixed into them.

So what does the market savvy Florida grower do to counter this incursion into their market? Well they take advantage of American’s fear of imports lumping OJ in with lead painted toys and poison dog food from China. Their surveys show that 11% of Americans always check for the country of origin and 70% are willing to pay more for a made in the USA product. As a result, the growers started running a buy American campaign.

There is just one little flaw in this strategy. Brazil provides about half the orange juice consumed world wide. Brazil is also pretty much immune from frost freezes and hurricanes. In a good year, Florida provides a third of the OJ to the global market. Unfortunately, bad weather has reduced production and they had to turn, are you ready for this, to Brazil to meet their existing contracts.

There is still one major Floridian non-concentrated juice provider who is sticking with the Grown In Florida and Florida Only campaign, but the rest have bowed out by necessity.

Who knew this little fruit could cause such a stir?

Taste the Sunshine with Hale Groves

At Hale Groves, we believe the best gifts come from the land, not a factory. For generations, our fruit has been grown slowly under the Florida sun, picked at its peak, and delivered fresh to your door. From sweet Navel Oranges to rare Honeybells, every gift shares the simple joy of real flavor—perfect for holidays, milestones, or everyday moments worth celebrating.

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