Citrus Hill

Launch

The launch of Citrus Hill occurred when P&G acquired Florida-based Ben Hill Griffin Inc. and created a brand to sell its juice products under, with national distribution. This thrust P&G into the competitive orange juice market, dominated by Minute Maid and Tropicana Products. Procter & Gamble hoped to differentiate Citrus Hill from the other major brands by marketing it as a premium product, based on a patented freeze-concentration process that retained more volatile organic aroma compounds associated with fresh-squeezed juice than did the industry-standard evaporative heat concentration (US Patents 4,463,025; 4,818,555; 4,889,739; 4,938,985; 4, 971,813; and 4,971,811).

Branding issues with the FDA

That proved unsuccessful in a segment with technology limiting the 1980s orange juice market to made-from-concentrate products of generally equal quality differentiated by price and perceived value. Citrus Hill had the distinction of introducing the first calcium-enriched orange juice in 1986, which was largely met with indifference from consumers.

Citrus Hill would trudge along in a distant third place throughout its life, and a desperate attempt at rebranding would spell the demise for the brand. In 1990, Citrus Hill changed the name of its orange juice to Citrus Hill Fresh Select, with the word "Fresh" emphasized boldly and a small disclaimer stating that it was "Fresh from Concentrate."

In June 1990, Commissioner David Aaron Kessler of the Food & Drug Administration declared that the use of "fresh" was a misnomer and a violation of 1963 rules governing processed orange juice, which P&G denied.