Kimberly Lin recently wrote a blog post about Red Bull and how it is being sued for its misleading but catchy slogan, “Red Bull Gives You Wings”. Everyone knows Red Bull can’t literally give you wings, but even so, the implication of the statement was enough for  Red Bull to settle the lawsuit out of court for $13 million, $6.5 million of which will be refunded to consumers. Kim talks about how foolish Red Bull was for using a deceptive slogan, but I disagree:

Through this slogan, Red Bull has been able to position itself as the leading energy drink. “Red Bull Gives You Wings” has differentiated the brand from other energy drinks like Monster (Unleash the Beast) and Rockstar (Party Like A Rockstar). The latter two taglines aren’t unique to the brands – they’re clichés and old song titles – while Red Bull’s slogan is exclusive and memorable.

In my opinion, the lawsuit isn’t particularly defamatory. Consumers will still buy Red Bull because they knew from the beginning that they wouldn’t have grown wings anyway. Nothing has changed in the ingredients either, which is a more immediate concern. I think consumers will take this lawsuit as a comedic “scandal”, and use those few extra refunded dollars to buy another can of Red Bull.

As for Red Bull’s losses, $13 million is only 0.17% of Red Bull’s net worth ($7.5 billion). That’s a small price to pay for successful brand positioning that has seated them at the #1 spot.

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References:

Kim’s Original Blog Post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/kimlin/2014/11/08/if-you-dont-have-wings-red-bull-owes-you-10/

Sources/Text Hyperlinks: http://www.forbes.com/companies/red-bull/

https://plus.google.com/+MonsterEnergy/about

http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/rockstar

http://www.statista.com/statistics/304949/global-leading-energy-brands-based-on-sales/

Image Sources: http://www.kiss925.com/files/red-bull-gives-you-wings2.jpg

http://www.cubiclane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/EffectsofEnergyDrinks.jpg