Week 2 EOC: Red Bull Ad

Sold by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH, the energy drink Red Bull was first created in 1987. Being the highest selling energy drink ever sold in the present day, the brand is one Americans have gone accustomed to seeing practically everywhere they go. The signature line we are all familiar with, “Red Bull gives you wings” first came around in a 2000 ad campaign though it took the brand until 2002 for the campaign to be introduced to the American market. The campaign has significantly evolved over the years as the brand captures the hearts and wallets of millennials. This success within the beverage industry has given the brand opportunities to establish themselves in a variety of other industries like Music, Sports and Television. 

Through the success of the campaign, that signature line made its way around the world. The brand never had any issues come about with the use of the words until 2013. A man named Benjamin Careathers, joined forces with a number of others to file a law suit against the brand. The phrase “Red Bull Gives You Wings” seemed to have rubbed some the wrong way as soon as they realized the beverage did not actually supply the consumer with the wings of an angel upon consumption. It looked like a simple case of puffery that needed to come to an end. The brand ended up settling for a sum of $13 Million in favor of the let-down consumers. They even went to the extent of reimbursing the average Red Bull drinker with a small amount of Red Bull Credit.

I personally believe that reasonable judgement is a requirement in a commercial situation, such as being exposed to an advertisement. With this being said, any reasonable consumer will know that the brand’s claims were not meant to be interpreted in a literal sense. The claim is too far-fetched for the brand to be held accountable for a literal interpretation that any reasonable consumer should be able to decipher themselves.