The fact that energy drinks are on a high is partly a sign that so many people are on a low: working longer and more stressful hours for smaller wages. “Red Bull gives you wings” was a genius slogan, both for what it promised and for the implicit acknowledgment that this was actually a load of cobblers (humans can’t grow wings). Ever since they were first marketed, energy drinks have preyed on the sense of near-permanent exhaustion or lowness or general loss of edge that so many carry with us, even as teenagers. I t’s a rare person in the modern world who doesn’t feel in need of a lift, whether to help us run faster, work harder, party longer, play a PS4 game for 10 hours straight or just to make it through the rigours of the day without collapsing. The label boasts that “with bold, thirst quenching flavours to help you refresh, replenish, and refuel, Prime is the perfect boost for every endeavor”. Maybe Prime fans really believe that the drink will make them feel extra-hydrated in some deep but not entirely defined way. In theory, customers were limited to a single bottle of each flavour but adults and children were seen pushing each other and sprinting through the stores to sweep up as many bottles as they could for £2 each. In December, there were said to be scenes of “carnage” in British branches of Aldi after the supermarket started selling Prime Hydration. In just three months, by the end of March 2022, sales of Prime had reached over $10m worldwide. Viewers tuned in expecting to see the pair doing the latest in a series of highly publicised boxing matches, instead of which they announced that they were “no longer rivals” but had come together as co-creators of a soft drinks company. On 4 January 2022, the drink was launched during an Instagram broadcast featuring KSI and Paul, two social media stars who had previously made much of the “beef” between them. The hysteria around Prime Hydration is an example of how fervently certain energy drinks are now thirsted after. There were scenes of carnage in UK supermarkets In three months, sales of Prime reached over $10m worldwide. According to the Grocer, Red Bull saw its total UK revenues rise by 19% in 2021 to £414.7m. Red Bull, the market leader, sold 11.582bn cans globally in 2022 compared with 4bn cans in 2011. The sugary soft drinks market is finally declining in many countries as consumers become more aware of the effects of sugar on health yet energy drinks sales are still rising rapidly year on year. The names alone can make you feel hyped up: Monster, Relentless, Rockstar, Boost, Furocity, N-Gine, Tiger, Grenade. In some convenience stores and supermarkets, whole chiller cabinets are now devoted to them. But never before have they been such an intense and frequently purchased object of desire. These concoctions – soft drinks that claim to boost potency and productivity – have been around in one form or another since the 1940s. Something strange is happening in the world of energy drinks. Actually, £8 isn’t even that expensive for Prime, which last year was selling for £19.99 and upwards a bottle at an off-licence in Wakefield known as Wakey Wines, which developed a cult following after customers started filming themselves buying expensive soft drinks there and putting it on TikTok. It seems there is no shortage of 11- to 15-year-old boys prepared to pay £8 for these glorified bottles of squash, which have become a status symbol of sorts. A teacher at different school reports that older children have been taking empty bottles of Prime, filling them with water and selling them to naive year 7s, who are left in tears when they discover it isn’t the real thing. Another version of the drink called Prime Energy also contains 200mg caffeine: more than twice as much as a can of Red Bull. Prime Hydration contains coconut water, B vitamins and sweeteners, plus branched-chain amino acids (which are used by bodybuilders to promote muscles) and it comes in lurid flavours including Tropical Punch and Blue Raspberry. “Prime” isn’t, as I first thought, a drug but a sports drink in bright plastic bottles promoted by the YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul. Apparently, this boy was sourcing the Prime from a supplier in London for £2 a unit before selling it on to children who didn’t know any better for eight quid. A 13-year-old I know (whose identity I am thinly veiling to preserve his privacy) came back from school the other day and told me that there was a year 9 kid “dealing Prime” at the back of the class.
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