Blogless

Given the hectic week, I figured it was a good time to share this head-shaker I’d been saving in my Blog Less file. We all need to slow down, but perhaps this is taking things a bit too far.

Drank is a hip-hop branded club drink that seems like a horribly misguided application of think the opposite. In a land oversaturated by Starbucks and McDonald’s lattes, someone got the bright idea to start selling over-the-counter downers. I wasn’t aware the market existed, but I guess warm milk and chamomile don’t quite have the cachet of a can of fizzy sugar water.

Do we really need a non-alcoholic beverage that makes people sleepy? There’s a reason alcohol is regulated and coffee is not. If you had too much espresso, I still think you could drive reasonably well.

Fun fact: An etymology of the beverage reveals that its name comes from Purple Drank, an underground drug-laced concoction, which according to its Wikipedia page sounds like a Flaming Moe sans fire. Its primary ingredient is prescription-strength purple cough syrup.

So not only is it a potential hazard for those who might be operating heavy machinery, it borrows its branding from a narcotic. A few months ago, I thought this was worth a chuckle, but now I think we’ve crossed over into design ethics territory.

One could disagree with me and argue that Drank is only marketed to clubs, but look at Red Bull. If it’s cool enough for the clubs, it’s cool enough for your kids.