Energy on the Go
I thought energy drinks were just a passing craze when I was in high school and they first started to show up on store shelves. Red Bull in a 250ml can was the drink of choice, and anyone who drank more than two in a day was flirting with danger, edging across the line, rebelling against authority – it was the perfect drink for the kids who wanted to be badass without the actual bad. For once though, the young adult grab-and-go market has had its attention snatched by a range of products that show no inclination to release it anytime soon. New energy-boosting drinks are hitting the shelves every week, and the old ones are constantly updated, improved and reworked.
Take Mother, for example. Mother didn’t really take off until the new formula was marketed – “Completely new – tastes nothing like the old one!” What that says about the consumer mentality I’m not quite sure. Do we need to be given an ego boost (“you were right, it was horrible”) and then smacked in the face (“we won’t apologise, but you will buy our product”) before we can be enticed to buy something? Well, it certainly worked. The design on the can may have helped too, although the tattoo-style branding does nothing for me, and the name? The first time I heard of it I thought it was a milk product. Matronly images clashing with bikie gang tough completely turn me off, actually. That’s probably why I have yet to taste the stuff, let alone buy a can. Maybe it tastes good. Maybe it offers a tougher, more rebellious caffeine kick than any of the others. Because honestly, I think that’s at the heart of why these products are still being purchased at an unprecedented rate.
The four-can daily limit advice on the Red Bull can back in the early noughties was a stroke of genius by whoever sanctioned it. Sell kids a product and advertise a hint of danger, a little intimation that this is almost worthy of the label ‘controlled substance’. After all, caffeine is probably the last legal stimulant that’s readily available in Australia. Throw in a few words like ‘stimulant’ and ‘performance enhancing’ or a catchy slogan that implies this sauce will get you high (…gives you wings). They’re marketing it like a drug, and all the cool kids are doing it.
Thank you, Facebook. Hooray for Twitter. I now know who prefers Red Bull for their late-night study stimulant, who ‘needs a Mother’ and who ‘feels better already’ for opening a can of V. It’s not just viral word-of-mouth marketing (and I salute the advertising geniuses behind these products. Yes, I’ve used the word genius twice to describe the designers – they really are that good) but it’s the language we use when we talk about these drinks that bugs me most. People acting like they’re desperate for another hit, out of control without the shot of energy, absolutely dependant on one drink that changes their world, makes them fly, will give them that A on a report or pull them through a hangover. Seriously folks, I’m all for the power of positive thought, and I don’t deny that energy drinks can give you a boost. But don’t pretend it’s hardcore, and don’t glorify substance abuse. Honestly? It just ain’t that cool.
…wow, all this writing for the first time in ages has really worn me out. I need a coffee. 
September 29th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
hmmm… I feel like i’ve missed out on a craze, I can only think of the red bull slogan. Heh, I always assumed mother was the censored version of motherfucker, cos that’s a hardcore word for… hardcore people. hmmm…
The sales always go up around exam period. :-p
September 29th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
LONG POST FROM RELLE. YAY. But no pictures… I like pictures, hence why I dont like the dictionary…
I think Energy Drinks are over-rated. Unless I drink a few I dont notice anything different. Although Monster Tastes good. I dont now how some people think it gives them energy to stay awake all night for exam study. or hang over cure… maybe im just lame and not hard core.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Energy drinks have never really done anything for me. The only time I ever bought one for the express purpose of energy was driving back from Andrew’s house new year’s day. I needed to stay awake! Sadly, I was still sleepy the entire way home. When I got home, however, although I was really super sleepy I couldn’t get to sleep. Thank you caffeine, you are a little late!
For advertising my kudos have to go to the person who had the balls to call their energy drink cocaine… the free advertising was phenomenal, it was all over the news and as Anna said, if something appears bad-ass the kids are going to love it and what is more bad-ass than pretending to take a hardcore drug? I am not sure whether they were allowed to keep their name but still.
I know of at least two people who up until recently had an energy drink every morning to get them going. I thought they were crazy until I realised that, hey, I am doing a similar thing with my early morning coffee. After having a few health problems (trust me, you do NOT want to know!) I took my self off coffee completely. I am not sure whether I experienced withdrawal symptoms or not because silly me decided to do it in a rather stressful time which caused me tension headaches regardless. Now when I have caffeine, e.g. the other day when I was moving all of my things out of my old apartment, I do not notice the effects during the day but when I try to sleep I cannot do it.
I have always thought that I had a sleeping problem, now I know it was just a caffeine problem.
Wow my comment is nearly as long as Anna’s post. Sorry about that! and kudos to anyone who actually bothered to read it all. Oops.
October 1st, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Heh, very informative, Clairey! ^.^
I checked. Cocaine is still alive and well as a brand name, and selling fast. Apparently it’s got a bit of bite in it, as well, so that makes the folks who drink it even more hardcore. Do we need to worry about this generation yet?
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:14 am
I don’t think we would need to be worried about them if we could make studying and having a strong work ethic hardcore?
(I say while looking at a blog AT WORK!)
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Hmmm… I go for a mother myself! But I do have to say red bull and vodka was an awesome invention!