Honesty has been on my mind lately.  My dashboard dictionary defines “honest” as “free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere”.   For a company to use such an adjective in their name, they better mean it!

As parents, we notice when our very young children try to lie to us for the first time.  It is so clearly evident.  As our children age, they become more devious in their untruths unless those early attempts at fibbing were dealt with honestly.

My children are not liars.  I know it.  They have other faults, but fortunately, they have retained the obviousness of toddlerhood when attempting to fool us, thus they have given up even trying (at least my ten-year-old has).

Honest Tea’s motto is “Real Tea.  Real Taste.  Honest.”  Some people might argue with Honest Tea’s honesty claims since they are partially owned by Coca-Cola:

Last year, Honest Tea sold 7,998,654 bottles of tea. This the same amount of Coke sold in 9 minutes.

…Honest Tea was only launched in 1998, and it somewhat ironic they would include such a quote when in 2008, “The Coca-Cola Company purchased 40 percent of Honest Tea”.

This information is not hidden, thus it is honest, yet it may hint at the sincerity to being committed to pureness by being part of a larger corporation that uses artificial ingredients. In these times when a majority of health food companies are actually owned by companies that do not hold these ideas, it is not that unusual.  But honestly, I’d rather support an independent health food company.

We were sent two flavors of Honest Kids drink pouches.

• [amazon_link id=”B001EHJBEY” target=”_blank” ]Honest Kids Berry Berry Good Lemonade USDA Organic Thirst Quenchers 8pk Box[/amazon_link]
• [amazon_link id=”B001EHJ2NY” target=”_blank” ]Honest Kids Goodness Grapeness USDA Organic Grape Juice Thirst Quencher Pouches 8 Pk[/amazon_link]

These convenient drink pouches are organic, contain no high fructose corn syrup, 5 % juice, non-GMO, and half the sugar of other kids’ drinks.  My son preferred the grape flavor, whereas my daughter preferred the berry.

I am not a big fan of juice boxes or pouches.  The convenience is great for packing school lunches or traveling, but honestly, and we are being honest here, I want my kids to drink water.  The other concern for me is disposing of the packaging.

Honest Tea has partnered with Terracycle to solve this problem or at least alleviate it:

Every year millions of drink pouches end up in garbage and landfills. Honest Kids and TerraCycle are working together to change that. As eco-friendly innovator, TerraCycle converts the drink pouches into unique fashion bags, tote bags, pencil cases, and other fun items for kids and adults. 

This a great idea, but you need to collect 500 pouches before you turn them in, and Terracycle will compensate $0.02 per pouch to your organization.  That’s a lot of pouches!

Honesty is an important value, perhaps the most important.  It defines our personal integrity.  As a marketing term, I don’t have a problem with it’s use by Honest Tea.  The fact Coca-Cola owns part of the company makes it easy to find it in convenience stores and other places reaching a larger audience.  There’s always balance when it comes to honesty.

Disclosure: I was sent free samples of these products to review. No prior assurances were given as to whether the review would be positive or negative.