Sugarpova ~ the candy line created by Maria Sharapova..

Sugar is Sweet and ‘beauty is often associated with sweet’…… would a beauty succeed in sweet business ?

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova – simply Sharapova from Russia is known for her beauty and for her playing skills.  Presently she is ranked World no. 3 and was in news this Wimbledon losing to little known Michelle Larcher de Brito .  The Russian is a United States resident since 1994 and has won twenty-nine WTA singles titles, including four Grand Slam singles titles. Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 at age 17, when she defeated two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments and in many advertisements, including for Nike, Prince, and Canon, and is the face of several fashion houses.  Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. She is perhaps the highest earning women sportsperson……..

She has endorsed a great line of products including  a line of shoes for Cole Haan -  the Sharapova's ballerina flat was one of the top-selling shoes; for TAG Heuer she designed a line of sunglasses, one of her most interesting collaborations was with the famed architect Frank Gehry to come up with items of jewellery for Tiffany. The woman who lost the title chance is looking for sweet taste of business success. The 26-year-old has taken steps to becoming her own brand, and creating a new business career, with her Sugarpova sweets, newly launched in the UK. It is just the latest country launch, in an ambitious drive that she hopes will see her become one of the biggest premium confectionery names in the world. "Business and sport are both very competitive worlds, and I want to be the best in both," says the 2004 Wimbledon champion. She says the product, begun entirely with her own money, is the start of her setting up a strong independent commercial foundation for when she leaves the game.

It is ‘Sugarpova’  confectionery brand. The French Open runner-up says it took her two years to create the sweets, which were launched in the US last year and have since been introduced to a number of other countries.  Sugarpova is a candy line created by her. According to the Sugarpova website, "Sugarpova is a premium candy line that reflects the fun, fashionable, sweet side of international tennis sensation Maria Sharapova. The line currently consists of 12 different flavors that range from Flirty, to Smitten Sour, to Splashy. To create Sugarpova, Maria Sharapova partnered with candy veteran Jeff Rubin, founder of international retailer IT'SUGAR. The sweets come in 142g bags, filled with an average of four servings of five sweets - but it would take an extraordinary amount of self-control for most people to stick to a meagre five. 

Each bag - which costs $5.99 (£3.70) and is currently only available in America - is packed with some 480 calories and 80g of sugar - in some cases as many as 84g, the equivalent of 21 teaspoons or two cans of full-fat Coca Cola. Some quarters criticize her as being irresponsible for this line. Some child psychologists  have criticized it as the 'inappropriate' launch of a 'playful' and 'flirty' junk food line that is particularly targeted towards young girls and women. The concern gets pronounced as reportedly there are around 850,000 people with undiagnosed diabetes in the UK, according to the NHS figures, and Diabetes UK says there will be 700,000 more by the end of the decade.

She claims that a  portion of all proceeds go towards the Maria Sharapova Foundation, Sharapova's charity.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st July 2013.