It’s Hard To Handle Hardcore Energy
In nearly every respect, it was a rosy year for energy drinks. Salesfi
remained high, the category continued to expand, and a parade offi
new drinks and hybrids found their way to market.
Despite their youth, energy drinks have become as mainstream a partfi
of the beverage economy as any other product. Rockstar sales reps holdfi
tastings in corporate cafeterias; Monster is marketing a coffee/energyfi
hybrid; Pimp Juice is hyping its antioxidant content. Projections showfi
the category could hit $10 billion by 2010.
Things should continue to go well. If, that is, consumers can stay outfi
of the emergency room. Because last year brought some of the worstfi
headlines the category has seen to date. A pair of well-documented healthfi
scares – and a product named for an addictive street drug – brought afi
deeper, panicked level of scrutiny to the manufacture and marketingfi
of energy drinks. At a time when Americans’ concerns about caffeinefi
consumption are growing and functional beverages and foods are undergoingfi
government review, it may be that the future of the energy drinkfi
category is hazier than it appears.
What’s causing the negative attention? In the past year, it’s been a triofi
of energy drinks whose pumped-up caffeine content (more than 30 mgfi
per fluid ounce – between three and four times that of a typical energyfi
drink) has led some industry members to assess them as a new segmentfi
– Extreme. Two of the products, Spike Shooter and Redline, are madefi
by nutritional supplement companies. Both caused national headlinesfi
when, after drinking them, consumers were hospitalized with symptomsfi
resembling caffeine overdoses. A third drink, Cocaine, caused a tempestfi
in a slim can due to its inflammatory name.
As a result, the image of energy drinks – always more motocrossfi
than merry-go-round – has sustained some damage. And the possibilityfi
of another acute reaction – or another wave of bad press – is causingfi
some industry observers to look with concern at the extreme end offi
the energy spectrum.
“We talk about it a lot,” said James Foster, who runs thefi
Web site EnergyFiend.com, which tracks caffeine in beveragesfi
and has become a resource for consumers and thefi
media. “All there needs is one bad accident to happen, justfi
one event where someone gets damaged, and the whole categoryfi
is going to come under scrutiny in a negative way.”
Regulation, Inside and Out
This spring, a group of beverage marketing executivesfi
gathered in the offices of the American Beverage Associationfi
(ABA), the first members of a new committee onfi
energy drinks. Caffeine concerns were of paramount importance,fi
according to Kevin Keane, the ABA’s Vice Presidentfi
of Communications.
“It’s a growing category, and we need to be smarter withfi
those issues,” Keane said, adding that caffeine “was the bigfi
thing we were dealing with.”
The end result of the meeting was a recommendation that ABAfi
members begin disclosing caffeine content voluntarily, which echoedfi
choices by the Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo to start divulging the caffeinefi
content of their products.
The recommendation wasn’t made with any of the extremefi
products in mind – none of their manufacturers arefi
ABA members. But the ABA has a long history of fightingfi
back against regulation, taking on criticism of the use offi
High-Fructose Corn Syrup and sodas in schools with equalfi
aplomb. That the group recommended caffeine disclosurefi
for its energy drink making members so quickly indicatesfi
its awareness of the potential for a public relations debacle.
“Our industry sent a message, in the way they approvedfi
this voluntary labeling and put the issue front and center,”fi
Keane said.
As for extreme products, he added, the jury is still out.
“It’s something that people are aware of, but concernfi
hasn’t reached a high level yet,” he said. “The consumers arefi
making their judgment with regard to them. It’s such a newfi
category, it’s still growing, and everyone’s seeing how thingsfi
are going to progress. And you don’t want to overreact tofi
things, either. I mean, it’s an energy drink.”