After Twelve Years of Trying: No Enhanced Performance from Drinking Red Bull

Class action lawsuits can be a great way for consumers to obtain much necessary leverage against potentially overreaching corporations in ways that would have been impossible without this legal vehicle.  But they can also resemble mere litigiousness based on claims that, to laypeople at least, might simply seem silly.  Decide for yourself where on this spectrum the recent settlement between Red Bull and a class of consumers falls.  The background is as follows:

The energy drink Red Bull contains so much sugar and caffeine that it can probably help keep many a sleepy law professor and law student alert enough to get an immediate and urgent job done.  I admit that I have personally enjoyed the drink a few times in the past, but cannot even drink an entire can without my heart simply beating too fast (so I don’t). 

Red Bull’s marketing efforts promised consumers a “boost, “wings,” and “improved concentration and reaction speeds.”  One consumer alleges in the class action suit that he “had been drinking the product since 2002, but had seen no improvement in his athletic performance.” 

It strikes me as being a bad idea to pin one’s hopes on a mere energy drink to improve one’s athletic performance.  These types of energy drinks seem to be geared much more towards a temporary sugar high than anything else.  At any rate, if the drink doesn’t help, why continue drinking it for another 12 years? 

Nonetheless, a group of plaintiffs filed claim asserting breach of express warranty, unjust enrichment, and violations of various states’ consumer protection statutes.  The consumers claim that Red Bull’s deceptive conduct and practices mean makes the company’s advertising and marketing more than just “puffery,” but instead deceptive and fraudulent and thus actionable.  The company of course denies this, but has chosen to settle the lawsuit “to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation.” 

To me, this case seems to be more along the lines of Leonard v. Pepsico than a more viable claim.  Having said that, I am of course not in favor of any type of false and misleading corporate claims for mere profit reasons, but a healthy dose of skepticism by consumers is also warranted.