Okay, I definitely deserve a late pass for this one, but maybe some of you are like me, and you haven’t been spending much time surveying the energy drink section of your local bodega’s refrigerator.
If that’s the case, you may not have come across the urban market version of what seems to be the latest trend in the slender can category. It’s purple, it tastes pretty much like grape soda, and, like the dialogue of a good 90’s black sitcom, it wants you to “Slow Your Roll.” It’s called Drank and it’s one of the more popular drinks in a category of beverages being marketed as “Anti-Energy” drinks.
Drank, along with Slow Cow (which gets a gold star for most awesome referential-branding-bordering-on-copyright-infringement), Mary Jane’s (yep, they’re referencing that Mary Jane), ViB (Vacation in a Bottle), Malava Novacaine, and a bunch of others, are all drinks which claim to have ingredients that are meant to chill the drinker out.
I was put on to Drank by my good friend, Matt, who somehow always manages to stay one step ahead of the game when it comes to new beverages. He professed that the drink induced a sort of euphoric state of relaxation, rivaled only by this Souls of Mischief song.
Upon trying it, I can’t exactly say I felt anything, but it got me thinking about the likelihood that such a drink as Drank may very well represent a shift in American values.
Only a few years ago, every major beverage company was trying to compete with Red Bull, but after a sobering decade and the reality of living ITTET, could it be that Americans want nothing more than to just chill the fuck out? If several companies are now trying to sell us drinks to do just that, I’d reckon so. Capitalism is, after all, the great barometer of our collective integrity.
links:
Drank
Slow Cow
ViB (warning: this site has annoying background music)
Tags:
Anti-Energy Drinks, Drank, Mary Jane's, Slow Cow, Slow Your Roll
Do you think there has been a shift in American values over the past year? If so, what do you think it means for the future?
Isn’t that the natural order of things? I think prolonged war+fear+uncertainty about the future will start to take its toll and you will take steps to balance yourself out, even if it means buying Drank at your local deli.
Having a sober, level-headed leader does change things, even if some people accuse him of being too soft, at least he doesn’t have everyone in a constant state of hysteria (although some people do that for a living). I can’t say I know what that means for the future though, perhaps it’s a cycle that will change again eventually.
But not to worry, the all-american penchant for disaster films is still intact
Yeah, I suppose it is. Still, I think this might be the first time in a few decades that WORK isn’t viewed as the greatest thing life has to offer. Who knows? Maybe I’m too young to really know what I’m talking about.
Either way, it does represent a shift for our generation.
The Obama thing is an interesting point too, but I’m still a tiny bit skeptical when it comes to this administration and the ‘war on terror.’ Obama might not speak the same language of fear as Bush but a great deal of the folks who run this country, and the media, for that matter, still do. Add that to the fact that there may very well be legitimate causes for concern that people should be aware of, and it all ends up being a tough thing to balance.
But yes, we will always have our disaster films.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZRAuRX9Ie0
it’s purple!
Drank’s actually been around for a long ass time in the south, where it’s actually quite the concoction — the wiki gives a pretty good explanation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_drank
Southern Hip-Hop references it a lot, perhaps you’re familiar with that work of genius, “Buy you a drank”? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D00RGQioLuY&feature=channel
But as to your actual question, I have to scratch my head… I’m not sure. In this form, it seems like an addictive, desperate (and therefore counterintuitive) form of relaxation that seeks it in a redbull alternative.
A lot has been made of the seeking of “value” in the homemade, the personal, the slow — but there’s also an activity, a buzzing, and a real, human energy that comes in unique, honest, family-community dynamism and production, as opposed to the consumptive “activity” that it is, at best, replacing or competing with. While we’re relaxing our relationship to consumption and perhaps changing our pacing, at the same time we’re actually stimulating and creating energy in our selves, our souls, and our brains that often wasn’t required by the previous model.
I’d say the consumptive relaxation in a can that these drinks provide is again more of the latter model… for some reason I find them depressing. I’ll go for a nice slow pot of tea anytime.