Maybe you saw them on social media, or maybe your child asked you to buy some… or even sell some? Prime sports drinks are the new darling of many young people. Explanations of a phenomenon.
What are Prime Drinks?
With their brightly colored packaging and bursting tastes, we speak here of “Ice Pop” and “Meta Moon”, Prime drinks are available in hydration drinks and energy drinks. They are the result of the collaboration of two very popular youtubers: Logan Paul and KSI. The two former boxing rivals now turned business partners aren’t shy about saying they want to dethrone the sports drink Gatorade.
Launched in January 2022, their Prime Hydration drink quickly generated a huge following. Grocery stores in the UK have had to ration customers to a few bottles per person. Their drinks were also quickly out of stock on their website.
We are facing a new phenomenon, believes Jordan Lebel, full professor of food marketing at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business. “We’ve seen brands appear over the past few years that suddenly spring up like mushrooms,” he says. They have a growth strategy that originates through a group of people already affiliated as fans. »
PHOTO FROM DRINKPRIME FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
KSI and Logan Paul
Retailed at 1.99 pounds in the UK, a bottle has even been displayed on eBay for 10,000 pounds, according to the Guardian. In Canada, the drinks are sold online and have also been found in select specialty stores and convenience stores for a few months. Their prices vary between $7 and $9 for a 500ml bottle. In comparison, you can get a Gatorade drink for less than $2 for a similar format.
Why is it so popular?
Logan Paul has over 23.6 million YouTube subscribers while KSI has 24.1 million. In other words, the two influencers have a “high conversion power”, believes Jordan Lebel, in particular because they play the card of authenticity. “As soon as you follow the person and are attached to it, when they promote a new drink, you will be tempted to go to the store, buy it or order it online. »
It can be difficult to get your hands on their drinks. People looking for Prime bottles are sharing their finds on social media like TikTok, helping to fuel the craze. There’s even an app to keep track of stock available in the UK.
Prime drinks are banned in some schools in the UK after students started selling them. The craze has also spread to certain schools in Quebec.
11-year-old Arthur and his friends sell Prime hydration drinks to classmates outside the walls of his Montreal school. Since September, they have sold about fifty bottles, underlines this primary school student. They buy the drinks — online or at a specialty store — for $5 each and resell them for around $9. “Everyone loves KSI and Logan Paul,” he says.
A sixth-grade elementary school teacher at a South Shore school confirms that her students “talk a lot about Prime Hydration drinks.” No sales here, but the athletic young boys in her class try to get all the scents on offer and even make a collection of them, she says. But it’s nothing to worry about, according to the teacher.
Asked whether certain schools were facing a problematic situation with Prime drinks, the Montreal School Services Center indicated that it had “nothing to say about it”. The Pointe-de-l’Île School Service Center and the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center did not respond to the email from The Press.
Is it good for health?
“It’s not a sports drink. It’s just pure marketing,” says Ève Crépeau, sports nutritionist. According to her, the creators of the drink use words popular in sports nutrition, which contributes “to the idea that these substances are good”.
Prime Hydration boasts 10% coconut water, BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids), B vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes and no added sugar.
Coconut water is there for its electrolyte intake, explains Ève Crépeau, but it is only the sodium that is relevant. And even then, sodium is only required at a high level of physical exercise, such as during a marathon. “We don’t need electrolytes in most cases. We will find them in food, ”she explains.
Prime claims that BCAAs are added to its drinks for muscle recovery. However, no study has demonstrated what the drink defends, says Ève Crépeau. Regarding antioxidants (vitamins A and E), “we will get them in fruits and vegetables”, so it is not relevant to add them.
The Prime drink also contains 200% of the daily vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 requirements. However, B vitamins are water-soluble, so if you ingest too much of it compared to the body’s real needs, the vitamins will be eliminated by the kidneys.
Prime boasts that it’s sugar-free, like it’s better, but really the whole point of a sports drink is to have carbs.
Ève Crépeau, sports nutritionist
We’ll take a sports drink when we’re training for more than 90 minutes, and the water isn’t enough, she says. “The drink demonizes sugar, when in fact it should have it. Prime drinks have sweeteners instead, which “keeps the taste sweet.”
For Ève Crépeau, Prime Hydration drinks are “insignificant”. Gatorade, by comparison, has a good carb ratio, she says. You can also concoct such a drink at home, she recalls, with water, juice and a little salt. “It’s easy to talk nonsense about nutrition, especially on social media,” she says. People don’t know who to believe. »