The Energy Drink Explosion!
Cats: Current Events, moblog| |
| The Energy Drink Explosion! Originally uploaded by metamorphilia. |
So I’ve bought an iPod, a Wii and a PSP. I have gotten into blogging and MMORPGs. I have been known to get an occasional latte at any of the myriad coffee shops in my hometown. I tend to make it to many blockbuster films, often on opening nights (and occasionally dressed in costume). I go to McDonald’s when they’ve got the Monopoly game running. I’m a big Harry Potter fan. I’m considering getting an Xbox 360 just so I’m not left out of the Halo 3 phenomenon….
…You might say I have a propensity to get caught up in fads. However, the burgeoning energy drink market is a craze I just haven’t bought into. Maybe it’s because I have been relatively burnt out on caffeine by my severe Dr. Pepper addiction, or maybe it’s because the fad arrived at a point where I am outside the target market, but it just doesn’t appeal to me to pay extra for moreget-up-and-go. I get all I need in the amount of pop I drink normally, and I am of the opinion that I get too much caffeine normally, anyway–I had a wheatgrass shot at Juice Stop just the other day to help detox a bit–so a beverage that claims it ‘gives you wings’ just doesn’t penetrate my usually porous advertising filter.
I don’t think I am overstating the fad too much: I have known several young men to actually become free-lance distributers of up-and-coming energy drink brands (you know something has hit the big-time when it’s got multi-level marketing on its side). I am aware of several alcoholic drinks that mix in Red Bull instead of something more traditional, like cola or un-cola (ahh, the delectible combination of depressants and stimulants!).
I’m still just trying to figure out the appeal. I’ll admit I haven’t tasted RB, but I have tried another brand that was all too similar to regular old Mountain Dew (which, incidentally, just came out with a ‘Game Fuel’ variety in honor of Halo 3, supposedly with a ‘citrus cherry’ flavor…yuck). It just wasn’t that big of a flavor difference, I didn’t experience any particular buzz, and for the price of two smallish cans of ‘high-octane energy’, I can often get a 6-pack or 12-pack of the usual stuff.
Whatever happened to Jolt?I remember when all-nighters warranted a special sneak-out trip to the local convenience store (we knew which one had it and which didn’t). It cost maybe a dollar more than the other drinks for a six-pack, and two or three would keep us up until daybreak watching cable or movies taped off cable, or trying to crank out Super Mario 3 in one fell swoop. Is a teenager’s tolerance so high now that to be completely off caffeine would make him comatose??
Am I the only fuddy-duddy around? Is everyone else out there into these beverages, and I’ve just missed the boat for once? Or are you like me, and have looked at the energy drink section of the grocery store and just shaken your head, wondering what the big deal is?
August 16th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
I totally hear you. The final straw for me was when i came across a ‘VAMPIRE’ energy drink. Which had some junk on the label about raving until the dawn light with your blood-sucking buddys or something similarly insane. Even for me that was too much.