This one whizzed by last night in about 30 seconds. A guy with a backback is climbing a mountain and the location of the screen said Xi'An China. I think I remember tea terraces in the background. He gets up to what looks like a temple door. He pulls out a bottle of Snapple green tea and knocks. Instead of a monk a Chinese guy in casual Western attire opens the door to an apartment with a TV. Holding the bottle he asks if this is the source of ECGC. The Chinese guy says he didn't know but read the label on the back of the bottle. The commercial chimes in green tea is the greatest source for the nutrient.
The more I think about it I actually hope this tea thing doesn't catch on much more than it has so far in the U.S. At first I was kinda for it and thought it would make tea more available and bring down some prices... but when I really churn on it it is about the worst thing that could happen.
It will be bastardized, marketed, hyped, overhyped, overhyped some more, prices will raise quality will decline and none of the "converts" will be worth a damn. Not to sound elitest but it is the truth.
The only good news is that I don't think it will work anyhow. They tried the green tea health angle, with barely no success. The tea offerings at Starbucks, Seattles Best, etc. are piss poor which won't help turn anyone onto tea. Luckily the average Joe Sixpack has no real interest and there is no easy way to make it "cool." Sobe started off on the right path, but then dumped all of their tea offerings in favor of sweet flavored drinks. Snapple is terrible and their white tea offerings are a waste.
I can't tell you how many times I have had folks who want to try to strike up a tea conversation with me mention that damned White tea Snapple ad, and how many times I have to smile and play along. Argh.
I actually feel the same way; I may just be another newcomer (well, it's been almost a year for me since I started drinking tea), but I really don't want tea to become more mainstream.
But I'm not really that worried, because parallels show that it really won't happen, and what the market is now is pretty much what it will remain as in the US. Look at similar items, such as beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tobacco, and chocolate. All of them have their own health benefits (and problems, but those usually associated with overuse/abuse), and a relatively moderate obsession with high-quality versions of any or all of them only leads to one thing for /certain/: less money. You have to pay a premium to get the good things in life.
All of the above had to start somewhere, and all of the above have lead to a US market full of cheap versions to proclaim lies about having all the benefits at a fraction of the cost (budweiser, boones farm, jack daniels, marlboro, and hershey's (don't forget lipton!), and the real things. People will almost always be introduced with the cheap versions (there are exceptions), mainly due to the American dream of "having it all for nothing." After that, it's up to the consumer to decide to investigate further.
Correct my pessimistic understanding if I'm wrong, but I have your feelings and am finding myself less and less frustrated by the nonsense in popular entertainment now. Just ignore it. Just don't look; It won't do the unexpected, because the common American doesn't want what we drink; they want it for less.
The commercial made me LOL. It kinda reminds me of the one about taking tablets. Snapple's is not a beverage to quench one's thirst, it's a health food - hah.
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