 
Richard Reed founded ethical drinks company Innocent in 1999 with
university friends Adam Balon and Jon Wright and proceeded to make
fruit-based smoothies a smash hit in the UK. Now employing 200 people,
the trio beat Gordon Ramsay and Simon Fuller to be named Greatest
Britons 2007 in the business category of the prestigious awards show.
In a recent posting on Innocent’s website, Reed set out the company’s
aims as being to “make the best tasting drinks possible; keep them 100%
healthy and natural; procure the ingredients responsibly; make
environmentally-conscious packaging choices(the world's first 100%
recycled PET bottle is on its way, ETA June); measure, share and reduce
carbon (on track for 15% reduction this year); and give a minimum of
10% of all profits to charity to fund rural development projects in the
countries where the fruit comes from.”
Despite these admirable principles, the Innocent story has not been
without controversy. The company has come in for vociferous online
criticism from some of its loyal customer base over a trial of its
children’s drinks in some branches of McDonalds. Pepsi reported
Innocent to the Advertising Standards Authority for allegedly
misleading customers with "nutritionally incorrect information'' about
the amount of sugar contained in its new range of flavoured waters
called “This Water”.
Katie quizzes Richard Reed about these issues, the company's green and ethical credentials and asks about the past present and future of Innocent.
Innocent website - www.innocentdrinks.co.uk
This Water website - www.thiswater.co.uk
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Innocent has lost its innocence
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