Life-sized apples, giant kiwis and over-blown grapes will be on the streets "protesting" in Chicago this month and handing out samples of Naked Juice.

The Fruit Will Set You Free protest dares Chicagoans to "expose themselves," playing on the tag line "Expose Your Healthy Side." The campaign has several goals: to increase brand awareness and purchase, to create buzz about the product and to educate consumers about the importance of integrating more fruit into the daily diet.

Reps dressed as a selection of giant fruits will be on the streets in downtown Chicago on Sept 13, 14 and 16 shouting chants and carrying placards that read "Down with free radicals," "Say no to added sugar" and "The fruit will set you free." Reps will set up outside NBC studios, Union Station and the Wrigley Building and at Millennium Park and the main entrance of the Lincoln Park Zoo, as well as other locations. Passersby will get samples of Naked Juice's juices and smoothies along with buttons and pins carrying the campaign's tagline.

"Naked Juice prefers to spend the majority of our marketing budget on grassroots efforts to really connect with our consumers," says Rachel Kenney, education manager, Naked Juice. "We're very interactive with our consumers."

Supporting ads started in August on 60 taxis (30 fully wrapped), billboards, wild postings and urban panels, along with P-O-P materials in local stores.

Last week, an animated e-mail blast was sent to 1,500 Naked Nation members (people who signed up at grassroots events to be contacted by Naked Juice) in the Chicago area, letting them know about the upcoming protests, Kenney said.

Naked Juice considers Chicago a potentially large growth market since it was referred to by Men's Fitness as "America's fattest city," as well as Naked Juice's capabilities for strong product distribution, the company said. Based on the program's success, the pilot sampling effort could become a model for other markets, Kenney said.

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