357. MIRINDA ORANGE, THE SUNSHINE DRINK, 1978

MIRINDA 'SUNSHINE DRINK' LAUNCH PRINT AD, 1978

PEPSI COLA in the Philippines has been around for over 70 years, and in the mid-1960s, launched its own orange soda brand, MIRINDA. Meant to compete against the more established Royal Tru-Orange, MIRINDA was launched with its own campaign and promotional support, starting with the “More Fun” print series in 1966.

Its early TV ads were canned commercials from the U.S., notably the “Orange Avalanche” , which featured thousands of oranges magically appearing, dropping  and bouncing everywhere---to dramatize the “natural orangy-ness” of the soda.

WATCH MIRINDA'S 'SUNSHINE DRINK' TVC HERE:

(c/o Jojo Bailon, Voice on the 3rd)

It was only in 1978 that the brand had a local campaign hit with the “SUNSHINE DRINK” campaign, which reinforced the product’s 100% natural orange taste. This was visualized by  “slicing” a MIRINDA bottle and squeezing that half of the bottle on an orange squeezer—as if it were a real orange. The voice-over announcer goes: “If you can slice it like an orange, squeeze it like an orange, then you’ll discover the 100% natural orange taste of MIRINDA”. 

Conceived and produced by J.Walter Thompson Phils., MIRINDA’s “SUNSHINE DRINK” campaign endured through the early 1980s.

SOURCES:

Mirinda Orange 1980 TVC, Jojo Bailon, View on the Third (VOT III), via Dateline Anime, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0smIinktsiQ

309. Beauty Queens as Ad Models: PILAR DELILAH PILAPIL, Bb. Pilipinas 1967

ESKINOL AD, 1967

One of the most photographed beauties of the late 1960s was Pilar Delilah Pilapil, a homegrown mestizo beauty from Liloan, Cebu who was crowned Bb. Pilipinas of 1967. Then 17 years old, she represented the country at the 1967 Miss Universe Pageant in Miami beach, won by American Sylvia Hitchcock. 

BB. PILIPINAS AD, 1967, with PILAR

But greater things were in store for her after her reign. Producers sought her for television and the movies, and that’s how she started her long and enduring showbiz career that has spanned 4 decades, and counting. When the popular comic strip “Tisoy” of Nonoy Marcelo was turned into a TV series, Pilapil was cast as ‘Maribubut”, Tisoy’s (played by Jimmy Morato) love interest. She went on to do a musical show “This Girl..Pilar!” as well.

ESKINOL GIRL PILAR, 1967

ESKINOL PRINT AD, 1968

Her first film was no less than the FPJ-directed “El Niño”, and action  with1968 with Andy Poe as her leading man. She was linked with Dolphy after doing “Dolpe De Gulat” and “El Pinoy Matador” in the enxt 2 years. Winner of 2 Best Actress Awards (Urian and MFF) , Pilapil has an impressive body of screen work to her name, including “Kailan Ba Tama Ang Mali” (1985), “Tinik Sa Dibdib”,  “Napakasakit Kuya Eddie”, and “Bakit Ako Mahihiya” in 1997. 

MIRINDA ORANGE AD, Pilar Pilapil with Bert Leroy Jr., 1967-68

She ran unsuccessfuly for a senatorial seat in 2004 and authored her biography in 2006 in a book entitled “Woman Without A Face”. Pilapil has a daughter Pia, with Salvador Laurel.  Divorced from her Spanish husband Michel Ponti in 1987, the born-again Pilapil married Pastor Bernie Penas in 2002.  In 2011, Pilapil was  attacked by suspected carjackers and kidnappers, but survived her ordeal. 

BEAR BRAND AD, 1967-68

A staple of TV soap series, Pilar Pilapil  is currently doing “First Yaya” for GMA 7 as of February 2020. 

A PAIR OF VONNEL ADS, 1968 

The celebrated beauty graced many magazine covers as well as modeled for blue-chip brands during her celebrated years, a few of which are featured on this spread.

211. An Orange Avalanche from PepsiCo: MIRINDA, 1966-1967

DRINK FRESH M-M-M-MIRINDA ORANGE, 1967 campaign

Pepsi Cola’s fruit-flavored soda—MIRINDA—was launched in the mid 1960s in the Philippines and soon became a major player in the local softdrink market.

Originally produced in Spain in 1959, MIRINDA came in distinctive swirl bottles with a a bubbly green “M” emblazoned in front.

The name MIRINDA was said to have been derived from the pidgin language, Esperanto, which means, “wonderful”.

MIRINDA orange was the first flavor introduced, aimed at Royal Tru-Orange, then the market leader in the category. There were also cheaper price brands of orange sodas like Avenue and Ideal, but nothing beats the fizz and fruiter, orangier flavors of MIRINDA and Royal.

Supported fully with the massive marketing resources of Pepsico, MIRINDA made waves as it was positioned as a fun-flavored, thirst-quenching drink for teens and young adults.  

The product was pushed full-color lifestyle ad series, that captured the interest of the ‘60s Now Generation.

Though available in limited areas, MIRINDA was soon giving a Royal Tru-Orange a run for its money. The “More Fun” campaign lasted from 1966-61, and was replaced by “M-M-M-Mirinda” with the introduction of a short-lived flavor variant, MIRINDA Grape. This campaign ran until 1968.

MIRINDA 'BADMINTON' PRINT AD, 1966

MIRINDA 'BOWLING' PRINT AD,1966

MIRINDA TV advertising in the late 1960ss included the U.S. produced “Orange Avalanche” campaign that was used and aired in the Philippines.

MIRINDA ' FISHING' PRINT AD, 1966

MIRINDA 'SWING' PRINT AD,1966

In 1976, a head-on collision with market leader Royal Tru-Orange became national news when MIRINDA dared come out with an ad that claimed that nearly half of Royal Tru-Orange drinkers preferred the taste of MIRINDA in a blind taste test.

MIRINDA ORANGE, AND WITH NEW GRAPE FLAVOR, 1967

In a  time when comparative advertising wasn’t allowed (the mere mention of a competitor’s name in an ad was subject to strict regulation), MIRINDA’s move was considered unethical, and the claim insufficiently backed. The MIRINDA ad was banned, but Pepsico retaliated with a nationwide taste challenge to determine which tasted better— “Let your taste decide!”, was MIRINDA’s battlecry.

MIRINDA ORANGE & GRAPE THERMOMETER, 1967 STORE PREMIUM

MIRINDA now represents the majority of Mirinda sales worldwide following a major repositioning of the brand towards that flavor in the early 1990s. It is still being sold in the Philippines in PET bottles and cans, though not as briskly as before with the advent of similar juice drinks, twisters, flavored tea and powdered orange drinks. Recently, a MIRINDA Fun Mix powder drink was introduced in 2018.

A 1960 MIRINDA COOLER.

41. Kulang sa Ebidensya: THE ROYAL TRU-ORANGE-MIRINDA ORANGE WAR, 1976

THE CLAIM THAT STARTED IT ALL. Launched in 1965, Royal Tru-Orange's
"Yung May Pulp Bits Syempre" campaign ran successfully for over a decade,
until Mirinda dared to challenge its taste superiority promise.

Yes, it was MIRINDA who fired the first salvo and it was a deadringer.

 Yes, MIRINDA claimed in a full page ad in the local dailies that the majority of TRU-ORANGE drinkers confessed their love, devotion and surrender to MIRINDA. 

THE CONTROVERSIAL MIRINDA FULL PAGE AD
named its primary competitor--RTO--and pointed out its weakness in
a taste challenge conducted by Consumer Pulse. 1976. 

Yes, the conspiracy was hatched by the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of the Philippines, bottlers of MIRINDA; Ace Compton, the agency which handles the MIRINDA account; and Consumer Pulse, the research firm which supervised the taste test.

 No, TRU-ORANGE retorted. The MIRINDA ad spoke with forked tongue. And so San Miguel Corporation, producer of ROYAL TRU-ORANGE brought their case and wounded pride to the attention of the Philippine Board of Advertisers.

 Yes, the Philippine Board of Advertisers said, we must stop this MIRINDA aggression until MIRINDA and the gang can substantiate their claim by furnishing us the raw data of Consumer Pulse.

ROYAL TRU-ORANGE RESPONSE AD. RTO came up with its own defensive
print ad that encouraged consumers to conduct their own taste-test, while the
case against Mirinda was ongoing at the Philippine Board of Advertising. 1976.

 No, Consumer Pulse volleyed. We will only show our findings to the PBA fathers only if the examination will be made in our premises.

 Yes, other implications arose, Ace-Compton claimed that a butter ad appeared on TV employing the same methods as MIRINDA and got away with it. So why the fuss about our ad.

 Yes, by supreme coincidence, the alleged inferior butter being put down was under the account of Ace Compton. Something was fishy.

 No, the PBA boomed. The butter as was not in anyway the same or similar to the softdrink ad. But from now on, the PBA will prohibit comparative advertising that directly and specifically mentions its competitor.

 Yes, the PBA also pored through the raw data of Consumer Pulse and declared it insubstantial. Yes, the MIRINDA was banned from all media.

 Yes, TRU-ORANGE and the whole San Miguel Corporation were about to drink champagne to their victory when…

MIRINDA'S REVISED CHALLENGE AD. The direct reference to
Royal Tru-Orange was dropped; instead, it was referred to as "the leading
orange soft drink". It didn't matter--the damage has been done.

 Yes, MIRINDA came out again with another ad that complied with the PBA rules and extended their Mirinda Challenge to malignant limits.

No, there’s no telling what ROYAL TRU-ORANGE will do in the next few days to get even. But it sure is getting to be a lovely advertising war.

This article originally appeared on ERMITA, vol. 1, no. 9, October 1976 issue.