In “The Simpsons” episode titled “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy,” Lisa Simpson challenges Malibu Stacy creator Stacy Lovell to create a toy doll that serves as positive doll role model for young girls. After receiving a positive review by the local TV anchor, the Lisa Lionheart doll looks to be the next toy of the season until the toy company that now owns Malibu Stacy releases a version of its doll, which features a new hat. The ebb and flow of the fictional Lisa Lionheart is not too far removed from the swings that the U.S. hard cider market has faced.
“Hard cider performs very similarly to flavored malt beverages and tends to have some faddish qualities,” says Brian Sudano, managing partner at New York-based Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC). “When cider was growing very rapidly, a lot of the major brewers entered the category and spent tremendous amounts of money advertising brands in the category, between $65 and $70 million. This drove tremendous interest in the segment but volume growth was large in percentage terms but not absolute volume, [suggesting] the American consumer was not ready to adopt cider in a meaningful way. Not surprisingly, spending slowed and volume eventually began to decline.”