To hear Kevin Coupe’s weekly radio commentary, click on the “MNB Radio” icon on the left hand side of the home page, or just go to:
http://mnb.grocerywebsite.com/Radio/Radio_Listen_S.las
Or, to simply read the commentary in text form, continue below…
Hi, I’m Kevin Coupe, and this is MorningNewsBeat Radio, brought to you by Webstop, your first stop for retail website design services.
Okay, now I’m really ticked off.
Members of the MorningNewsBeat community may remember that I got more than a little outraged last year when a story came out that a Las Vegas beverage company had created a new energy drink with a name designed to stand out from all the others: “Cocaine.”
The drink contains no narcotics, but is billed in advertising as offering “Instant Rush. No Crash!” This new product is said to have 350 percent more “energy content” than Red Bull – it has 280 milligrams of caffeine, compared to the 80 milligrams of caffeine in an average cup of coffee.
The makers of Cocaine aren’t alone in trying to come up with suggestive names. There are products out there with names such as Xtazy Energy, PimpJuice and Tantra Erotic Drink, most aimed at young people and advertised heavily on the Internet.
Do these manufacturers have no shame?
I’m assuming they have no children, because if they did they’d never put this stuff on the marketplace. If they have children, and they’re doing it anyway, then we ought to put their pictures in the dictionary next to the word “immoral.” Or maybe “amoral.” Or both.
I wrote then, and I continue to hope, that there is a special corner of hell reserved for the manufacturers who would tease and seduce young people with drink names such as Cocaine and Xtazy. This is corporate and personal irresponsibility at its worst, meant only to score a buck with no regard for the welfare and psyches of the target audience.
And I hope that there is no retailer out there in the mainstream food industry that would stoop so low as to put these items on its shelves.
Well, I certainly was wrong on this last score – and I found this out because my 17-year-old son showed me a can of Cocaine energy drink that he’d purchased from a local store. He didn’t like it – he said it burned his throat – and I think he was curious what my reaction would be.
He wasn’t disappointed, because I hit the roof. Not so much at him, but at the company that makes this crap – because it is even worse than I expected. The can’s design has the word “Cocaine” spelled out in what clearly is white powder – which takes bad taste and irresponsibility to a whole new level.
This is the message I spelled out to my kids in no uncertain terms, and that I pass on to you:
“This is disgusting. This is wrong. You shouldn’t buy it, and you shouldn’t shop at places that sell it.”
Hell may be too good for the morons who make this garbage and promote it using such disgusting tactics.
Rant over. For now.
For MorningNewsBeat Radio, I’m Kevin Coupe.
http://mnb.grocerywebsite.com/Radio/Radio_Listen_S.las
Or, to simply read the commentary in text form, continue below…
Hi, I’m Kevin Coupe, and this is MorningNewsBeat Radio, brought to you by Webstop, your first stop for retail website design services.
Okay, now I’m really ticked off.
Members of the MorningNewsBeat community may remember that I got more than a little outraged last year when a story came out that a Las Vegas beverage company had created a new energy drink with a name designed to stand out from all the others: “Cocaine.”
The drink contains no narcotics, but is billed in advertising as offering “Instant Rush. No Crash!” This new product is said to have 350 percent more “energy content” than Red Bull – it has 280 milligrams of caffeine, compared to the 80 milligrams of caffeine in an average cup of coffee.
The makers of Cocaine aren’t alone in trying to come up with suggestive names. There are products out there with names such as Xtazy Energy, PimpJuice and Tantra Erotic Drink, most aimed at young people and advertised heavily on the Internet.
Do these manufacturers have no shame?
I’m assuming they have no children, because if they did they’d never put this stuff on the marketplace. If they have children, and they’re doing it anyway, then we ought to put their pictures in the dictionary next to the word “immoral.” Or maybe “amoral.” Or both.
I wrote then, and I continue to hope, that there is a special corner of hell reserved for the manufacturers who would tease and seduce young people with drink names such as Cocaine and Xtazy. This is corporate and personal irresponsibility at its worst, meant only to score a buck with no regard for the welfare and psyches of the target audience.
And I hope that there is no retailer out there in the mainstream food industry that would stoop so low as to put these items on its shelves.
Well, I certainly was wrong on this last score – and I found this out because my 17-year-old son showed me a can of Cocaine energy drink that he’d purchased from a local store. He didn’t like it – he said it burned his throat – and I think he was curious what my reaction would be.
He wasn’t disappointed, because I hit the roof. Not so much at him, but at the company that makes this crap – because it is even worse than I expected. The can’s design has the word “Cocaine” spelled out in what clearly is white powder – which takes bad taste and irresponsibility to a whole new level.
This is the message I spelled out to my kids in no uncertain terms, and that I pass on to you:
“This is disgusting. This is wrong. You shouldn’t buy it, and you shouldn’t shop at places that sell it.”
Hell may be too good for the morons who make this garbage and promote it using such disgusting tactics.
Rant over. For now.
For MorningNewsBeat Radio, I’m Kevin Coupe.
- KC's View:
