WENDY THE SNAPPLE LADY GONE IN A SNAP

Wendy Kaufman

It is amazing to me how Snapple, the so-called friendly soft drink company could act like this. Wendy Kaufman, The World Famous Snapple Lady, was fired on March 5th, after 18 years with the famous drink, by the stupid and heartless Cadbury Schweppes company. The former nice company had contacted Wendy and asked her to go out for a fun and casual lunch. They even asked her to pick the place. The fun loving Wendy picked BLT Market on 59th and 6th. It was just Wendy and her boss who works for Cadbury Schweppes in the Marketing Department. He tells her there is a de-merger coming up. They want to cut costs. Then he looks at Wendy and say's that they are terminating her existing contract, which had expired one week before this meeting, and he throws down a new contract and says this is their new offer. The problem was, that Wendy had a existing contract with a renewal year three built into it. The contract specifically said that if that Snapple opted to not renew the contract, Wendy was to be notified in writing sixty days before, which they did not do. After 18 years with the famous soft drink that Wendy made famous with her off beat commercials, the company she loved and trusted, and worked for sometimes for months without having a contract, just dismissed her. Everything Wendy has ever done for Snapple had always been based on her love of the brand and trust. In fact, recent emails that she had received prior to the lunch from the corporate office stated that her next payment would be according to schedule and that her new 8 by 10's were being processed making Wendy think that everything was as it always had been. That's why the termination of the existing contract and the offer of a new contract completely caught her off guard. The cold Cadbury Schweppes marketing asshole threw down a six page one sided contract and expected Wendy to sign it. The new Contract had Zero Guarantees, but tied her up personally and professionally in every way. Legally it was a horrible one sided offer that Wendy had to refuse. She sent it to her lawyers who said that in all their years in business they never saw anything so immoral and duplicitous done to anyone they had ever represented. Say's Wendy, "As an independent contractor....I wasn't even getting a severance package...and the fact that they told me that I was terminated 8 days after my contract was supposed to roll into the third year, and they were terminating me with absolutely NO NOTICE was devastating and beyond calculated and mean spirited. It wasn't the fact that they fired me, they absolutely had the right to do that...but to have such a blatant disregard of me after all these years of loyalty and nothing but love for the fans and the brand is nothing less than disgraceful. They sent me two emails to follow up on the new contract with lawyers that they wanted to be in touch with, attorneys that at Snapple's request, I hired at great cost thinking that there might be a new negotiation...and they ended up not even talking with them. To me, that was thousands of dollars that I had to spend in legal fees that I didn't have to spend had they just fired me!!!!! Cadbury Schweppes wanted it to look like they had an offer on the table so it would look good for them, but I'm here to tell you that the offer was no offer, it actually didn't exist, and it cost me thousands of dollars of money I didn't even have to bother spending. I was so distraught and depressed by this phony posturing, that when the dust settled and reality settled in, I became outraged by MY company hurting me more financially by adding such vindictive salt to an already existing wound. They never had to put me through this too. In any event...the de-merger between the confectionery part of Cadbury and the Beverage Brands happened on March 7th and just by chance, the producers for Your World with Neil Cavuto called, to see what my opinion was about the new company. I told them I had no opinion anymore since I was no longer the Snapple Lady.They flipped over at Fox, just couldn't believe it...and wanted me to come on that day. I couldn't because I had previous plans with my family...but they invited me to go in on Thursday, the next day. As you know James, I have certainly grieved, been depressed, and am now out of a big dose of denial. I am now hard at work on WendyWear...hard at work on a TV show and a book...and meeting someone in the beverage business next week about a line extension. Its been a very painful time for me"

Editors Note:In this columnists opinion, If Snapple isn't worried or doesn't care about Wendy, they should be. Wendy made the brand. Every time I go out with her, people from all over the world recognize her and ask for her autograph. She is always nice and always ready to greet her fans. She earned every dollar promoting Snapple. She was always on duty. One trip to Coney Island with her to just have a day off, was no day off for Wendy. Everyone knew who she was and Wendy didn't want to disappoint anyone. She talked to them all, signed autographs and was working. She promoted Snapple like no one else could. I love Wendy and am personally going to call some friends with other soft drink company's. Can you imagine the new commercials? I'm Wendy, the former Snapple Lady. I now drink Coca Cola because the makers of Snapple started to leave a sour taste in my mouth. When company's starts to get bigger, they forget the customer and they forget the people that made them. This is when we should forget them and shop elsewhere......

You can visit Wendy's WendyWear site and tell her how you feel by clicking here.

Photos By: James Edstrom