The article indicates the re-design in question was "launched" in January 2008. This is the date where planning the redesign began.

Another article [1] indicates that the new design was deployed on January 8th, 2009, and Tropicana announced a return to the old design on February 23rd, 2009.

A quick search shows an article [2] indicating around 2018 was when the panic around plastic straws began (with, for example, Seattle banning plastic straws starting in July 2018).

So in this case, the plastic straw issue does necessarily appear to be related to the redesign.

1: https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-fro...

2: https://www.eater.com/2018/7/12/17555880/plastic-straws-envi...