{"id":607237,"date":"2026-09-21T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/607237\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:14:09","slug":"buyer-beware-new-pineapple-fruju-found-cosplaying-as-grapefruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/607237\/","title":{"rendered":"Buyer beware: New pineapple Fruju found cosplaying as grapefruit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deceptive new packaging has left a sour taste in the mouths of grapefruit Fruju fans.<\/p>\n

Tim* couldn\u2019t believe his eyes on a recent freezer forage at his local dairy. Nestled between the hot pinks of the Toppa and raspberry and lime Fruju, he spotted a gaggle of familiar friends wrapped in a bright, citrussy green hue, depicting slices of juicy, yellow fruit. Thinking he had discovered a rare clutch of grapefruit Frujus, his \u201cpure joy\u201d soon turned into \u201ca swift misery that gave way to tremendous anger\u201d when closer inspection revealed them to be\u2026 pineapple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow could they do this?\u201d he bemoaned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The grapefruit and lemon Fruju in 2024 and the pineapple Fruju in 2026. (Photos: Alice Neville and Tim*)<\/p>\n

No ice block in history has been more reckless with the hearts and minds of New Zealanders than the grapefruit and lemon Fruju. Since the sour, tangy flavour joined the Fruju range in the 1980s, it has garnered an impassioned legion of sour-seeking superfans, including our own ice block ranker extraordinaire Madeleine Chapman. \u201cJust the sourest of sour treats that somehow works,\u201d she wrote in 2021<\/a>, awarding it the coveted spot of fourth best ice block in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From those dizzying heights soon came crushing news that sent fans right back to the freezer-scouring days of the Great Grapefruit Shortage of 2018<\/a>. In May 2023, Tip Top spokesperson Ben Schurr confirmed to The Spinoff that the beloved piquant flavour had been discontinued<\/a>. \u201cIt was the least popular of the flavours\u2026 it does have a very strong group of people who love it, but we\u2019re not making it at the moment,\u201d he said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The grapefruit Fruju returned in 2024. (Photo: Alice Neville\/Tina Tiller)<\/p>\n

But not unlike a toxic MAFS groom seeing the error of their ways, grapefruit soon came crawling back. Lovebombing fans for a limited time only<\/a> in select stores around the country in 2024, Tip Top told The Spinoff at the time that it had heeded the call of outraged customers. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of incoming inquiries from grapefruit and lemon fans over the last 12 months and luckily we\u2019ve found the packaging and materials to be able to put together a limited run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, those precious zesty green packets have continued to dwindle in numbers nationwide, with Schurr from Tip Top confirming to The Spinoff this week that the company discontinued making the Grapefruit Fruju earlier this year. \u201cThere will probably still be some limited amounts available in some stores around New Zealand, but likely these will disappear over the coming months. After that there will be no Grapefruit Frujus available,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is this years-long rollercoaster that left Tim understandably in \u201cdisbelief\u201d when he realised that other Fruju flavours were cosplaying as the cult classic. \u201cIf grapefruit is so unpopular that you just had to destroy our dreams and get rid of it, why dress mutton (pineapple) up as lamb (grapefruit) and expect us to just be OK with it?\u201d It isn\u2019t just the single-serve Frujus in disguise either \u2013 the Fruju boxes at the supermarket also boast a distinctive grapefruit-like green.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"My attempt at colour swatching the grapefruit green (left) and new Fruju green (right)<\/p>\n

In lieu of paying for forensic colour analysis, I sent swatches of the grapefruit Fruju and the new Fruju packaging to The Spinoff\u2019s Robbie Nicol, office champion of the colour-identification game Hues and Clues<\/a>. \u201cThese two colours are basically the same,\u201d he opined. \u201cThe left makes me feel like I am sitting patiently in the waiting room of a mental healthcare facility. The right makes me feel like I am looking at a faded photograph of Shrek, presumably mourning his death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicol agreed that grapefruit fans were right to feel hoodwinked by the similarities, which then raised another crucial question \u2013 why did Tip Top do this at all? \u201cFruju was well overdue for an update of its packaging and a refresh of how the brand appears,\u201d said Schurr. \u201cThe green colour was chosen as Fruju often appears next to Popsicle in freezers and, as many people know, Popsicles have blue coloured packaging, so green is a good contrast to tell them apart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"No flavour is safe. Photos: Tip Top<\/p>\n

Schurr added it was never Tip Top\u2019s intention to drum up false hope for grapefruit and lemon enthusiasts passing by their local freezer. \u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to trick our loyal grapefruit Fruju fans at all! It is a bit of an unfortunate coincidence for them that the green colour is close to that of the old grapefruit Fruju packaging,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do however think it looks great on all the flavours, which are all worth trying if you haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dangerous game, mentioning other Fruju flavours at a tumultuous time like this. With the spring blooms heralding warmer days to come, it\u2018s only a matter of time before the heat sets in and we start pawing at the freezer for more discontinued treats of old. For example, after making thirsty work of his grapefruit green colour analysis, Nicol threw out another demand for Tip Top that serves as a timely reminder that Fruju fans may move on, but they never forget:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease bring back Tropical Snow on a permanent basis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

*Not his real name, but his real Fruju opinions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deceptive new packaging has left a sour taste in the mouths of grapefruit Fruju fans. Tim* couldn\u2019t believe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[299191,42,141,43,299192,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-607237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-fruju","tag-headlines","tag-kai","tag-news","tag-tip-top","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}