Redline in Hot Water… Again
VPX (makers of Redline) have kindly donated $25k to a school in Florida after 4 kids made themselves ill.
The students, all eighth-grade boys about 13 or 14 years old, complained of an increased heart rate and were sweating profusely after sharing a Redline, which promises ”the ultimate energy rush” on its bottle.
They were taken to Memorial West Hospital, where they were treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. (From Miami Herald)
The kids told officials “…that they had each taken a few sips of Redline,”
Yeah. Right.
These drinks have warnings on them kids, and Redline has a LOT of warning. Retailers — what were you thinking of?
CEO of VPX wrote a great statement in response to the incident.
VPX/Redline is the first and only energy drink in the nation (to the best of my knowledge) to preemptively warn not to sell to children and to also warn pregnant persons not to consume caffeine which may be harmful to the health of the fetus. These warnings on energy drinks will soon become law and VPX/Redline is pioneering a new standard while legislation catches up to this relatively new challenge.
23 Comments
When I bought mine, I had to show my ID. I don’t mind pulling it out if it’ll keep it around. I have to pull out my wallet, anyway ..
But there’s no helping stupid people. The bottle has warnings all over. The first time I tried Redline/Spike Shooter I made sure I had food in my stomach and started with only half a bottle/can.
The makers of the drink should have sued the retailer for neglegence.
i dont see any point in getting after the producers of the drink because some stupid children went against a printed warning saying ‘not for those under 18′ ..and decided to consume the stuff anyways.
the retailer is probably at fault, or the kids got someone to purchase for them. regardless, they are idiots.
“they had each taken a few sips of Redline” Sounds like it was all in their heads anyway. A few sips should not have caused all those symptoms. Probably one started freaking out and then the others followed suit.
4 kids and 1 Redline? How much you want to bet they each had a full one but didn’t want to admit it. Think about it. Most places I’ve found Redline has it in 4packs. Absolute BS. Now watch. This’ll be a rallying point for the control and ban of drinks like these. I’ll stop now, I’ve already done this rant before here =)
what do you mean yea rite i was there n saw each of the four take sips so dont go and question that
@denial you should of stopped them then
So denial why did they freak out? Red Line is strong but not that strong. Where they really expecting it to kick their ass? Do you think it was all in their head? Do they drink a lot of energy drinks?
@denial - Yeah Right alright. I find it difficult to believe how a few “sips” could have that kind of outcome . Maybe only if these kids were very small/light and hadn’t eaten anything in a while.
a few sips? these kids must have some severe heart problems for it to have that kind of affect.
It might not necessarily been a problem with the kids; check Redline in the caffeine content database. Redline has considerably more caffeine per ounce than most energy drinks; 140mg/oz for the Power Rush Shot, and 31.25mg/oz for the 8oz RTD product. That’s a much higher content than you average energy drink; according to the same database the famous Redbull has barely 10mg/oz. Indeed, many widely publicized energy drink products are at only 10mg/oz; Monster and Rockstar for instance. An entire 12 ounces of Coke-Cola Classic has 34.5mg/oz–one ounce of Redline has almost as much caffeine as a whole bottle of coke! Also another factor to take into consideration is the fact that these are kids; middle school kids, barely old enough to be considered teenagers. Their metabolisms are probably different from those of us here who subscribe to this website– i.e., people who drink enough caffeine drinks to care about these issues, probably have a higher tolerance level, and are older. It’s very probable that these kids have comparatively low tollerance to caffeine, compared to say, a highschooler or college student who has to pound e-drinks down just to make a bloody living.
On the matter of liability, Redline probably wasn’t responsible if it posted clear warnings (It could possibly be argued that Redline’s warnings were inadequate, or that a simple warning on such a flashy product isn’t enough–that distributor-imposed restrictions on retailers should be implemented, in an extreme instance). Retailer’s probably at fault; the kids can’t be at fault if THEY bought it of their own volition and not under parental supervision, because they are minors and generally legally not able to understand things like health warnings and age limits.
$25000 does seem like a lot of money just for a face-saving measure in an issue that is only questionably their fault. Though corporations often make such donations as a public relations play, I wonder if it’d be more effective to simple say “No, it’s your fault; don’t buy our product if you’re underage.” Redline seems pretty hardcore; I tend to think its only for e-drink enthusiasts and poor wankers like me who have to stay up late for work and such. The question I mean to ask is: why bother pleasing the wider public, when the product through its potent merits is only for a minority?
Bill Wanker
I drank two redlines and felt like I could take over the world.
I’d have to say these kids are stupid, or had more then they said… I’ve had a half a redline before [it’s all my mum would let me have], and I’m there age… I sure as hell didn’t go to a hospital after having it, neither did my friend.
I can consume 2000 mgs of caffine,and am far from going for help………iv never seen one of these,but i garentee it wouldnt even phase me,then again,iv “excersised” my heart with alot more stimulating things,than legal stimulants.
Hey, Bill, I for one would like to welcome you to the world of energy drinks. I’d also like to let you know that the true difference between Redline and competitors is the ingredients other than caffeine. Energyfiend actually has an article on it, if you’d like to know.
I drank one full bottle of Redline once and never experienced any serious side effects that would have required medical attention. Heck, I never even felt a rush. Maybe that’s just because I’ve been drinking lots of energy drinks for a long time and have built up a tolerance to caffeine.
Wow, Last summer i was at a friends house and drank 3 and a half relines after a dare, and to be totally honest All i got was a little rush that went away after maybe 1 or 2 hours. But yeah not good stuff to mess around with if you don’t consume caffeine on a regular basis.
haha I’ve actually been addicted to caffeine for about a little over 4 years now, so i can probably take a little more than a couple 8th graders.
I had 2 redlines while i was gaming. I’m 16 and my heart didnt race at all. I made sure i had food in my stomach before i drank them. These idiotic kids probably didn’t eat anything all day and they probably drank 2 or 3 apiece. These kids are very retarded. Redline didnt make my heart race or anything. All it did was give me a major boost of energy and i was up all night playing halo 3 with my friends. It didn’t have any health problems for me.
id hate to seee these kids when they hit grade 10 and some pretty girl pure pressures them with a couple bad hits of extacy,theyl loose there minds and go cry to the officials again,lets just face it ,there are weak and strong minded people out there,and theres also a mixture of both with idiodic tendancies….if u feel like or od’ing on somthing,go puke,ul do alot better in the saving ur life department if it really is fatal,than wasting time in an emergy room …..
This is like the “Redbull Overdose” from a little while back… with this redline thing it was probably anxiety caused by caffeine led them to think something bad was happening when it really wasn’t. Caffeine increases heart rate. Heart Palpitations isn’t nearly as negative as it sounds. Its a paranoia problem combined with a little too much caffeine. Also they more than likely lied about how much they had because the bottle says only drink half. If they admitted to drinking a full bottle each or more then they wouldn’t have had grounds to sue.
If anything, this incident has served as a great marketing opportunity and exposure for Redline, making them stand out from the plethora of energy drinks.
They couldn’t buy a more effective marketing gig with a mere $25k. AND that’s “donation” = translation: tax-deductable expense for the company.
I hate to say it, but my Redline tolerance has gone up a good bit in the past few months. I’m considering switching out my plumbing for Redline because water makes me too sleepy.
[…] hitting yourself with about 600mg, don’t do that if you shouldn’t. And if you have no self control, like these kids, then caffeine isn’t for you anyway. Okay? Let’s be awake and safe out […]