Prime Energy, a cult beverage brand promoted by hugely popular YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul, which has even started showing up in elementary schools, as part of a troubling new wave of marketing the caffeinated drinks to kids.
Energy drinks are more powerful than ever, not just in terms of sales but in terms of the amounts of caffeine they pack into a single can, according to the New York Times.
The amount of caffeine in the drinks – which are now often promoted via TikTok influencers – can be shocking: a single can of Prime Energy is roughly equivalent to two cans of Red Bull, two cups of coffee and an astounding six cans of Coca-Cola.
Despite the amount of caffeine, Prime Energy is sugar-free and similar ingredients to the likes of Gatorade, which means that the drinks are actually promoting themselves as healthy alternatives.
‘All of them are zero sugar or zero calories,’ said beverage analyst Jim Watson of PepsiCo’s Celsius Live Fit and Prime Energy. ‘They’re going for the healthy image.’
Prime Energy, a cult beverage brand promoted by hugely popular YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul, which has even started showing up in elementary schools, as part of a troubling new wave of marketing the caffeinated drinks to kids
Prime isn’t even the most caffeinated: Bang Energy Drink has 300 milligrams of the drug.
The drinks have already been banned in schools across the United Kingdom and Australia.
Federal law bans schools from selling or providing caffeinated drinks to elementary or middle school students but does not ban them from bringing such drinks home.
‘We even had entrepreneurs in fourth and fifth grade who were bringing them to school and selling them to other kids at lunch,’ said Rebecca Brown, health services coordinator for Wilmington, Massachusetts’ school district.
Brown said that the drinks – which sold like gangbusters with the students – immediately started to give the children health problems.
‘Not long after drinking them, the students showed up in the health office saying they didn’t feel good and that their hearts were racing,’ Brown added.
Eventually, she had to send a note to parents in the school district asking them to not send their students to school with the drinks.
A young student in Wales allegedly suffered a ‘cardiac episode’ upon downing the beverage back in May.
Prime is a cult beverage brand promoted by hugely popular YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul
A single can of Prime Energy is roughly equivalent to two cans of Red Bull
The drink is also roughly equivalent to two cups of coffee and an astounding six cans of Coca-Cola
Prime Energy has noted that they label their drinks visibly as ‘not recommended for children under 18.’
The craze over the drinks in the United Kingdom led one dietician to tell DailyMail.com that parents should never let their kids have it.
However, it’s been easy to confuse Prime Energy with a similar drink sold by Paul and KSI called Prime Hydration, which is a more traditional, caffeine free sports drink.
Shivani Khosla, an influencer who tries out various sodas and candies, recently drew nearly half a million views on TikTok combining every single flavor of the Prime Hydration drink.
All of these drinks remain immensely popular and the source of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
Pepsi paid $550million for just 8.5 percent of Celsius – which reported $260million in revenue in the first quarter for 2023 alone – in 2022
Shares up Celsius are up to $144 each from just $69 a year ago. Monster Energy’s stock is up 31 percent this past year.
Prime Hydration had more than $250million in sales in its first year alone.
Similarly, Stephen Hegarty, spokesman for Pasco County Schools in Florida, notes that these companies have gotten creative with how they market such drinks.
It’s been easy to confuse Prime Energy with a similar drink sold by Paul and KSI called Prime Hydration, which is a more traditional, caffeine free sports drink
Prime Energy includes sugar, whereas Prime Hydration does not
‘If you go to any of our high schools, you’ll see students walking in with Starbucks, and some of those drinks have a lot of caffeine,’ Hegarty said. ‘I’m not sure what the definition of an energy drink is these days.’
Some are even marketed as an ‘enhanced soft drink’ rather than an energy drink.
Health officials recommend no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine per day for adults and no more than 100 per day for children between 12 and 18. Anyone younger is recommended to avoid it completely.
While, as mentioned, elementary and middle school students are legally not allowed to be sold caffeine drinks, there are no rules in place for high schools.
