Lipton discontinuing their Peach Ice Tea. That's like if Coca-Cola discontinued classic Coke or Greggs discontinued sausage rolls, simply illogical and nonsensical. Why would a brand scrap its most successful product? At least, that's what I thought when I heard Lipton's announcement that they were 'discontinuing' their well-loved tea.
The announcement, released via Instagram post, stated: "Rest in Peach. 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)."
...instead of mourning one of our nation's favourite drinks, we are now left to admire a clever, albeit confusing, marketing strategy...
Several fans of Lipton's 'iconic' drink had a lot to say in response to this unexpected news, with one person commenting 'How tf does a company discontinue arguably its best seller?'
The post received 162k likes and over 16k comments in just 24 hours, by far the most interactions Lipton has ever received on their social media. Following the post, conspiracies were flying left, right and centre over the reasoning behind the discontinuation, with some people suspecting a similar marketing ploy to Duolingo's 'Duo is Dead' scheme from February.
When Duo the Owl died, Duolingo's engagement rose, with users urged to take their daily lessons to help resurrect the iconic mascot. Matt Williams, a clinical professor of Business, said "Killing the owl off is a big move to get attention." and "They've done an amazing job at doing what brands are trying to do, which is creating a personality that breaks through this hugely cluttered media landscape that we live in."
You had your fun Lipton, but please for the sake of the nation's mental well-being, never do that to us again.
When Lipton revealed that the discontinuation of their well-known Peach Ice Tea was an early April Fools Joke, it became evident that this was a similarly intelligent marketing strategy. Perhaps the marketing team at Lipton was having a boring day in the office and decided to post something controversial for a laugh, or maybe this was a well-thought-out ploy inspired by Duolingo to increase social media engagement and to ensure the loyalty of Lipton's fan base.
Let's face it, we all rushed to the nearest shop to stock up on Peach Ice Tea when we heard the announcement. I saw several people embracing their Lipton bottles on the streets. That is exactly what Lipton wanted from us- they had us wrapped up in their web of lies!
Though we may have spent too much money on Peach iced tea due to a shameless prank, we can at least admire the efforts of Lipton to increase their sales and boost their social media attention. One thing's for sure, we will never take Lipton's Peach Ice Tea for granted again.
You had your fun Lipton, but please for the sake of the nation's mental well-being, never do that to us again.