The Beverly Hills Cola Company has launched a low-price energy drink which it is hoping will challenge market leader Red Bull.
Called Shock & Awe energy drink, after the name given to the US military's recent campaign in Iraq, the product is manufactured by New Jersey-based Liquid Billboards, which markets private label energy drinks as an ad medium for company promotions.
It will initially retail for about "two bucks" for an eight ounce can in bars and convenience stores and is set to make its US debut in a few weeks.
Shock & Awe contains the vitamins B2, B6, B12, Niacin, Ca-Pantotheanate as well as caffeine, taurine and habanero pepper juice. The company intends to spend $30,000 on an advertising campaign including flyers, club promotions and a PR campaign targeting the news media - considerably less than the Red Bull campaign.
Commenting on the drink, actress Renee Goddard-Gonzales said: "It's so spicy it hurts, gringos won't be able to handle it. It makes you reach for the Evian."
Which makes one wonder just how it is going to compete with the market leader.