The backlash over Cocaine was a much bigger concern than caffeine tofi
mainstream beverage marketers, according to Keane.
“We don’t hear from members about the risks of caffeine so much as somefi
of the marketing practices,” he said. “People know what they’re buying whenfi
they buy energy drinks. But it’s some of the names that seem to cross the linefi
of acceptability with the consumer. Cocaine obviously didn’t work.”
Still, it’s not as if mainstream energy drinks don’t already push thefi
edge of taste as it is. Most energy drinks, in fact, carry tough-sounding orfi
obscene names, and many also carry hyperbolic warnings of their own.fi
The image that helped the category grow, Keane admits, might havefi
created a situation where it is hard to separate the areas of real concernfi
from the hype.
“As with all of the products, a lot of it is marketing,” he said.
According to Foster, problems arise when, in a forest of extremesoundingfi
drinks, the ones that actually have extra potency don’t seem tofi
be any different from those that don’t. While Cocaine challenged peoplefi
with its name, there wasn’t much discussion of its potency as compared tofi
other drinks – even though it was one of the strongest around. Similarly,fi
Spike Shooter and Redline are expected by their manufacturers to be merchandisedfi
in the energy drink cooler, right next to Red Bull, despite thefi
difference in kick.
Redline, for example, has chemicals added that add a fat-burning, “thermogenicfi
shiver” effect to its potent level of caffeine. With its rounded topfi
and an appearance that makes it look a little less like a traditional energyfi
drink, it might seem geared to a different niche.
But not according to Redline’s CEO, Jack Owoc, who noted, whenfi
interviewed by electronic mail, that the best place for mainstream retailersfi
to sell his products is “in coolers and on shelves (end caps would be better!)fi
next to other energy drinks.”
Spike Shooter also attempts to identify itself as both a product thatfi
is specifically designed to help athletes work out better, and as a mainstreamfi
energy drink, as well.
“We design a lot of products for elite level athletes,” Guss said. “Nofi
one wants to drink 24 ounces of something before an elite level workout.fi
(Ultimate Fighting Champion) Randy Couture wouldn’t do thatfi
before he works out.”
“But,” Guss added, “It’s also a great mixer. The reason we created Spikefi
is that we believe traditional energy drinks didn’t deliver on their promise.fi
If you want to call Spike ‘hardcore,’ we’ll call it hardcore, but this is whatfi
energy drinks should have been all along.”
It’s that split personality – how many elite level athletes prep for theirfi
workouts at 7-Eleven? – that might undermine the entire category.
“You can provide all the warnings you want, but it comes down again tofi
a marketing issue,” Foster said. “If these things are marketed as a standardfi
energy drink, they’re going to have a problem. 14-year-olds, they’ll justfi
scarf them down.”
Over-Caffeinated Complaining?
Given caffeine’s established place in American culture, concerns about excessivefi
caffeine in any drink can sound overblown. It’s not as if consumersfi
are strangers to the product: worldwide, there are more than 13,000fi
Starbuck’s franchises doling out their own, particularly high-test brand offi
coffee. Starbucks can reach 23 mg per fluid ounce.
As one mainstream energy drink executive puts it, he’s sick of “thefi
mother who’s saying that she’d never let her son or daughter drink somethingfi
like [an extreme energy drink] when she’s on her third latte.”
And despite publicity surrounding bad reactions to the high levelsfi
of caffeine in energy drinks, it takes a near-undrinkable amount to causefi
a fatality. In the vast majority of well-publicized but non-fatal caffeinefi
overdoses nationwide (six incidents in California related directly to Redline’sfi
RTD product notwithstanding), the culprits were caffeine pills,fi
rather than beverages.
But extreme products are influential, and there’s something of an armsfi
race going on. One mainstream brand, Wired Energy aims its X344 andfi
X505, with 178 mg of caffeine per 8 oz. serving, at serious caffeine junkies.fi
Meanwhile, BooKoo, a fast-growing brand, has a line of 5.75 oz. “energyfi
shots” with about 120 mg of concentrated caffeine. Even Coke now ownsfi
NOS, which packs 173 mg of caffeine into an 11 oz. bottle.
It has the potential to become a larger issue because, prior to the morefi
extreme products, energy drinks’ caffeine content never really matchedfi
their sales rhetoric. Until now.
For a long time, even if they aren’t particularly “amped” with extra caffeine,fi
the vast majority of energy drink brands tried to appear that way,fi
in name and image, almost universally daring their consumers to “slam”fi
them. That attitude helped the category growth.
But in a marketing environment like that, with a Monster or a Kronikfi
or a Full Throttle in your sights, it’s easy to see why going hardcore, regardlessfi
of the potential pitfalls is tempting for manufacturers.
“We were following the trend in the energy drink business,” saysfi
Kirby, from the offices of Cocaine energy. “There were edgy drinks, therefi
were already drug names, so we said, ‘Hey, let’s take it all the wayfi
to the top.’”