Recently, Fuze Beverage, owned by The Coca-Cola Company, found itself stuck with more than one million 12-oz. cans of its carbonated NOS brand energy drink in storage. The product, valued above $2 million and targeted as "fuel" to NASCAR race fans, couldn't be sold as-is because it was out of compliance with updated nutritional labeling regulations.
There was no practical way to repackage the drink inside the cans, so labeling seemed an option. One early suggestion was made to salvage the cans by using a pressure-sensitive label with updated nutritional information applied over the old infomration. Contract packager ActionPak Inc., Bristol, PA, was part of the discussions, and explained why this approach was impractical.
“We were concerned that use of a label might give consumers the impression that there was something potentially wrong with the product, or that it was a knock-off of the original,” explained Ira Smith, CEO and President of ActionPak. “Plus, it would be virtually impossible to perfectly match a pressure-sensitive label to the can’s seam line. Further, we were concerned that consumers would be reluctant to buy, let alone consume, a product that had the appearance of a defect.” In order to salvage the existing product, the out-of-date nutritional information would have to be covered over with the new, correct data in a manner that would be undetectable by the consumer.
