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(Bild: Punica)

A good year after its disappearance from the market, the cult fruit juice brand Punica is to go back on sale. The drink will be available again in German supermarkets from April, the Hamburg-based drinks marketer Columbus Drinks confirmed on Tuesday.

The fruit juice brand, which was sold in brand-typical glass bottles at the time, was particularly prominent in advertising in the 1980s and 1990s.

Commercials with cult status
Punica commercials have almost cult status among some of the children of the time. Individual German-language advertising videos from back then have tens of thousands of views on internet platforms. In the commercials, cartoon characters often dragged themselves through the desert to reach the "Punica Oasis" in order to "save" themselves.

Originally launched in 1977 as a brand of Dittmeyer GmbH, the German drinks manufacturer was eventually taken over by Procter & Gamble in 1984, which sold the Punica brand to the American investor J.W. Childs in 2004. The latter sold Punica to PepsiCo in 2005.

Hamburg-based company takes over distribution
PepsiCo finally sold the majority of its juice division, including Punica, to the financial investor PAI Partners in 2022. The new joint venture Tropicana Brands Group reviewed the strategic priorities and made the decision to withdraw Punica from the market, as PepsiCo subsequently announced.

The cult brand will now be back on German supermarket shelves from April at least. The Hamburg-based company Columbus Drinks will take over distribution in the Germany-Austria-Switzerland region. However, it is not yet known when Punica will also be available in Austrian stores.

Higher fruit juice content
Columbus Drinks Managing Director Jörg Harders told the specialist portal "About Drinks" that the company now wants to reposition Punica on the market with a higher quality and more natural flavor. A new recipe with a fruit juice content of over 30 percent and a recommended retail price of less than two euros should achieve this.