See this article on the Sydney Morning Herald: Nudie's labels bare-faced cheek.
As I see it, Nudie HAD two key differentiators going for it:
1. A personable brand that projected realness.
2. A product that is made from real fruit as opposed to reconstituted or filler juices.
It is common for fruit juice or fruit drink* manufacturers to pad out their products with apple or pear juice as these are inexpensive and sugary. Especially with products that contain more expensive exotic fruit like blueberries, guavas and cranberries. The next time you are in a supermarket, look at the list of ingredients. The cheaper exotic juices will (or should!) list apple or pear juice as a large proportion of the contents.
Nudies do sell at a higher price, and supposedly you get nothing but the real fruit. This is where their lying will cost them dearly. The only reason they would pad out their juices with apple/pear is greed. They are already charging a premium price for premium juice after all.
Nudie management has probably forgotten their roots, and fell into the "do it like everyone else" approach. And in doing so, they destroyed both their market differentiators in one fell swoop. Nudie is now yet another faceless juice manufacturer.
I certainly feel cheated by them.
* Fruit drinks are made from fruit juice diluted with sugared water, whereas fruit juices must contain primarily juice (with an allowance for vitamins and preservatives possibly).
