Maybe it is behind the paywall but one interesting technique used by Red Bull is that they marketed themselves as a hard drug. Red Bull is actually a rather ta

Maybe it is behind the paywall but one interesting technique used by Red Bull is that they marketed themselves as a hard drug. Red Bull is actually a rather tame drink. It has a lot of caffeine, but not more than a typical cup of coffee. It has a few fancy ingredients like taurine, but these don't amount to much. If anything, the most harmful/addictive ingredient of it is sugar, and the actual "energy" part of it. But it is the way they marketed it. It "gives you wings". They have representatives give out the first dose for free at schools. It is associated with the rave subculture. It is sometimes consumed in association with alcohol. If people didn't know it was just a soft drink, they would think about something like ecstasy. And it worked. People bought these overpriced soft drink cans as some kind of forbidden substance with powerful effects, kids loved that. I was one of these kids BTW. I worked somewhat too well as government banned them in some countries, before they realized wasn't as harmful as it sounded, so they reverted to taxing it. Fun fact, in France (I don't know about other countries), they made a special tax for energy drinks, defined as soft drinks with more than a certain amount of caffeine. As a response, Red Bull silently reduced their amount of caffeine in order to stay under the limit, making it barely higher than a typical soft drink.