Selling juice becomes a neighborly initiative

Neighborhood association meetings have become a vehicle for the sales of an expensive health drink.

By JOANNE B. WALKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Something called Tahitian Noni Juice shows what can happen when a health fad meets neighborhood associations.

Neighborhoods from Fruitland Heights to Pine Ridge at Lake Tarpon are talking about the juice. It's expensive, $26 per concentrated extract ounce, but that doesn't stop supporters from buying it and telling friends about its effects.

The two main companies selling variations of the juice depend significantly on word-of-mouth advertising, and neighborhood association meetings have become one of those vehicles. Some of the backers are association presidents, and sales are frequent after some meetings.

With one company, a distributor receives $48 for each first-time salesperson recruited and gets a percentage of the recruit's sales. During an annual Neighborhood Block Party at The Pier in 1998, one woman mentioned the juice to Johnnie Mack, president of Fruitland Heights, and told her to try it for her glaucoma.

Mrs. Mack has since recruited 79 representatives. Many users and sales representatives are retirees. There are limited scientific studies about the fruit-based product, but testimonials abound.

"It stinks when you cut it," Mrs. Mack said about the knobby green noni fruit. "That thing is one of the best things in the world, though."

She admits it tastes terrible unless mixed with fruit juice and is also expensive.

"It's not something that's going to cure," said Dorothy Gilliam, president of Thirteen Street Heights. "It just relieves."

Walter Miros of Pine Ridge said, "It's not going to put doctors out of business, but I'm going to continue to use it."

The noni fruit, whose scientific name is Morinda citrifolia, is from French Polynesia. Food scientists Stephen Story and John Wadsworth learned of it and began marketing it in 1996 through their company Morinda Inc. They offer an extensive product line, including juice, powders, creams and soap. There's also a price-cutting competitor, Nature's Sunshine Products Inc. The company recently introduced a juice from the Hawaiian Noni or Samoan Nonu.

Even those who don't attend neighborhood association meetings may have heard murmurings about the juice from friends or neighbors, and others have begun to notice magnetic signs appearing on some cars to promote the products.

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