Pseudo Rap Battle Rocks the Organic World on the Eve of Earth Month

BETHESDA, Md., March 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The normally harmonious world of organic food just got a little raucous. To mark the beginning of April's Earth Month, Honest Tea® is releasing "Rethink What you Drink," a response to Gary Hirshberg's rap, "Just Eat Organic" released in March by Stonyfield Farm.

"I've got a grass-fed beef* with my mentor to the North," said Seth, TeaEO of Honest Tea, and a vegetarian. "Gary focuses on what goes into our stomachs but what about what about goes into our bladders?"

Goldman enlisted Honest Tea's National Field Marketing Director, "Patty Oolong " Jammet and East Coast Field Marketing Manager "Sublime Matt" O'Brien, and scores of Honest Tea employees and unsuspecting Bethesda, MD residents to participate in the video to mark the start of Earth Month. The video had its premiere during Goldman's keynote address at the third annual symposium held by the University of Maryland's Center for Social Value Creation.

In the video, the trio spread the word about the importance of drinking organics with lines such as:

Middle age guys rappin, what could be sadder?
I'll tell ya, Holmes,
What you put in your bladder!

Organic tastes better
cause nature got it right.
You don't need chemicals to keep a drink tight,
just purified water, and care for every ounce
and leave out the stuff that you can't pronounce.

The two-minute video includes several environmental messages. In addition to stressing the importance of choosing organic beverages, Honest Tea included ten shots of sustainable living practices.

"This is our way of spreading the organic message, but we're willing to believe that there are more talented rappers out there," Seth said. Honest Tea and Stonyfield Farm are offering $1,000 and a month's supply of tea (100 bottles) and organic Stonyfield products (100 free coupons) to the best video submission that highlights the benefits of organics and living sustainably. The contest will be judged by Seth Goldman and Gary Hirshberg. To learn more about the contest, go to www.justdrinkorganic.com.

Goldman frequently reminds his three sons that he was in a rap group in college (Harvard '87) back in the hey-day of rap. At a time when Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC were gaining traction with mainstream audiences, The Educated Devastators had limited commercial success, but certainly were a legend in the minds of its three members, Goldman (aka Dr. Bet McGee), Juice Master Zeus and DJ Cold Cut. The never-before-released single "The Place to Be" featured lines including,

If rhymes was water,
this place would be flooded
cause all our lines are so cold-blooded!

We're educated rappers,
With lines so dapper
That all our rhymes are phi beta kappa!

Seth tracked down his college roommate, Dr. Spud (now a corporate lawyer in NYC) to design the sound track. Seth noted, "This is my last chance to embarrass my oldest son before he goes off to college." The video features a bouncing "USDA Organic" seal over the key lyrics "because my 80-year old Mom has always enjoyed my raps, but she can never figure out what I'm saying."

*beef: a term frequently used to describe a difference of opinion among rappers.

About Honest Tea

Honest Tea is the nation's top-selling organic bottled tea company with a mission to make great-tasting, truly healthy organic beverages sweetened with less sugar and fewer calories than most bottled beverages. Honest Tea's product lines include: Honest Tea ready-to-drink bottled teas in glass and PET #1 bottles, Honest Ade organic thirst quenchers and Honest Kids drink pouches. All varieties are USDA-certified organic and by the end of March 2011, all teas will be Fair Trade Certified™. Since Honest Tea was founded in Bethesda, Maryland in 1998, the company has sustained an annual compound growth rate of more than 60%. Honest Tea has been continuously recognized for its impressive growth and mission-driven business practices. In addition to being named one of The Better World Shopping Guide's "Ten Best Companies on the Planet based on their overall social and environmental record," Honest Tea was also listed as one of PlanetGreen.com's "Top 7 Green Corporations of 2010," received Greenopia.com's coveted 4-Leaf Rating as "the greenest beverage company" for the third year in a row and was recently ranked by The Huffington Post as one of the leading "8 Revolutionary Socially Responsible Companies."

For more information, visit www.honesttea.com.

SOURCE Honest Tea