No, it's not an April Fool's Day joke (and yes, you are awake): Coca-Cola has published what it's calling the "world's first tastable print ad" for its Fanta brand soft drinks. That's right, Coca-Cola has created soda-flavored paper.
"Leave it to Fanta to inject some flavor – literally – into the somewhat staid medium of print advertising," the company said in a story on the Coca-Cola website.
The "fully-edible" ad is printed on rice paper that's been "infused with the super-secret Fanta formula." The ad invites readers to tear off a piece of the ad (which comes in a protective sleeve) and pop it in their mouth for a sample of Fanta's "new-and-improved taste."
“Fanta is all about bringing back play to seemingly boring situations where it has evaporated,” explains Tarun Sabhlok, group brand manager, flavors, Coca-Cola Middle East. “With the launch of our new orangey taste, we wanted to create a multisensory experience people would remember and want to share with their friends.”
According to Coca-Cola, the edible Fanta ad is part of a campaign to highlight the orange soda. Other components include motion-sensor release of orange scents at the soda displays in retail stores, and a Facebook app that allows users to record their "slurping" sound as images of the soda appear on the screen.
The ad first appeared in a lifestyle magazine based out of Dubai where the brand is preparing for a Middle East re-launch of its orange-flavored soda, which contains the controversial ingredient brominated vegetable oil, at least here in its U.S. formulas. It's also high in sugars, clocking in at 44 grams of sugar per 12-ounce can. Other ingredients include sodium benzoate, modified food starch, sodium polyphosphates, glycerol ester of rosin, and artificial colors yellow #6 and red #40. But, says Coca-Cola, the product is very low in sodium.
Coca-Cola has not said if it plans to bring the edible ads to the U.S. market.
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Image via Coca-Cola
