San Francisco Sues Monster Energy Drink for Marketing to Children

I’ve had a soft spot for Monster Energy Drinks ever since nine cans of the stuff helped me write one hundred and four pages in a single finals week during my sophomore year of college. Unfortunately, that caffeine-fueled week of intense productivity might have major health consequences down the road . . . at least according to San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Herrera believes that Monster is a dangerous product that is irresponsibly marketed to children and teenagers.

The city of San Francisco sued the Monster Beverage Corporation for allegedly violating California law and marketing Monster energy drinks to children and adolescents despite evidence that excessive consumption of Monster can result in “significant morbidity in adolescents.” Now, we know that soft drink companies are used to all kinds of accusations, but we’re going to go with a gut feeling here and say that being accused of causing “significant morbidity” in your key consumer demographic is probably not great for Monster’s brand image. And San Francisco didn’t stop there — the lawsuit went on to link the consumption of Monster to elevated blood pressure, brain seizures, and severe cardiac events. The latter included the death of a fourteen-year-old Maryland resident who experienced cardiac arrhythmia and died after consuming two 24-oz servings of Monster.

That doesn’t look too good for the Monster Beverage Corporation, which counter-sued Herrera in an attempt to block the city’s ongoing investigation into Monster’s marketing practices and health consequences.

PicThx LA Times