In the past couple of years, energy drink sales have rapidly increased. Red Bull has become one of the most popular brands of energy drinks. In 2012, they sold 5.2 billion cans. This was a 12.8% increase from the previous year. It is currently sold in 165 countries and has almost 9,000 employees. They have accumulated a huge social media. The company has over 900,000 Twitter followers, over 36,000,000 Facebook fans and over 1,000,000 contacts on Google plus. Last month, they launched new flavors in select markets which include: cranberry, blueberry and lime.
Monster Energy is another popular energy drink brand. They feature a variety of products including: Monster Energy, Zero Ultra, Absolute Energy, Low- Carb and Cuba Lima. They also offer consumers coffee energy drinks called Java Monster Loca Moca. They are marketed as coffee plus energy. They carry flavors such as Mean Bean and Vanilla Light. Just like Red Bull, they have a large social media following with over 500,000 Twitter followers and over 21,000,000 Facebook fans.
Energy drinks are quite popular among college aged people. They often use them to stay up late in order to study or drink them in order to stay awake throughout the day after a long night.
Monster Energy was put in the midst of controversy when a 14 year old girl died after consuming two of their 24oz energy drinks in less than 24 hours. The girl went into cardiac arrest and eventually died. The young girl's parents sued Monster Energy because they believed the labeling fails to warn consumers about its dangers. A couple of days ago, Fox News published an article citing that Monster hired a group of doctors to study whether or not the caffeine had any correlation to the young girls death. The company stated that the doctors did not find any link between her death and the amount of caffeine consumed.
Some energy drinks are fueled with high amounts of calories, carbohydrates and sugar; whereas others like Sugar Free Red Bull offers energy without any unwanted calories. Most energy drinks are targeted towards guys and adults; they are not marketed to kids. Many of them are often associated with extreme sports and have celebrity names attached to them. Monster Beverage Corporation is currently suffering; it is down 0.41 per share.
