Tang Soars With Astronauts, But Makers Avoid All The Hype

If you're tired of the hype surrounding John Glenn's return to space, don't blame Tang.

Instead of capitalizing on nostalgia for what was the astronauts' favorite instant drink, Tang has stuck with its current symbol: an orangutan.

Get it? Webster's says you also can spell the name of the great ape with reddish-brown hair "orangoutang."

"We really don't talk about Tang and space anymore," says Pat Riso, a spokeswoman for Tang, which is part of the Kraft food empire. "The orangutan is their very cool spokescharacter, and they really want to stick with him. That doesn't mean we're any less proud of John Glenn."

In fact, Riso confirms, the 77-year-old astronaut ordered Tang for some of his in-flight meals.

Glenn referred to Tang in an interview with "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno yesterday, saying the main difference in the food between his first flight in 1962 and today is now "I can have my Tang mixed with either Geritol or Metamucil."

Tang declined to join the parade of '60s space icons, such as Walter Cronkite and the surviving Mercury astronauts, in the nine-day Glennathon scheduled to end Saturday. If you want to see Tang commercials - featuring orangutans driving a Tangmobile and spraying a Tang fire hose - check out Saturday morning TV or other shows appealing to preteens.

That's because Tang repositioned itself, as they say in the marketing business, a long time ago.

The drink, which celebrated its 40th birthday last year, already was on shelves when NASA started looking around for something the original astronauts could drink in space.

"They came to us and said, `This meets all of our requirements. It tastes great, it keeps well and it's easy to make,' " Riso says. "We were really excited to be part of the space program."

But after the moon landings of 1969 and the early '70s, public interest waned in the space program. So did the benefits of being associated with straight-arrow guys in shiny silver suits.

"Now Tang is a product we advertise and promote heavily to the group we call 'tweens," Riso says.

Kraft doesn't release sales figures, but Riso says Tang is doing fine in the battle against Gatorade, Sunny Delight and all the others. It does even better in many foreign countries, she says, and now comes in more than 30 flavors.

Still, as Glenn's flight approached, didn't Tang have any thoughts of stirring up its astronaut allure for old times' sake?

"That's a real good question," Riso says. "That's not what Tang is doing these days. I guess they have their reasons."