This is what CRACK looks like in Thailand…

Most people don’t know it…but the energy drink “Red Bull” started as a Thai company.  The drink known as “Krating Daeng” here in Thai translates as “Red Bull”.  Based on market share, it is the most popular energy drink in the world.  It was founded by Thai national Chaleo Yoovidya and an Australian Named Dietrich Mateschitz.  Together Chaleo and his son own a controlling 51 percent interest in the company.

In 2009 it was discovered that “Red Bull Cola” exported from Austria contained trace amounts of Cocaine.  Batches of the drink were found to contain between .1-.3 micrograms of Cocaine per Liter, according to officials in Hong Kong who tested the beverage.  In Taiwan it was found that the importer was due to launch a marketing campaign, the day after the reports surfaced in Hong Kong.

Testing of Red Bull Energy drink and its variations have shown that a person with a low tolerance for Cocaine would have to consume two million cans of the drink in a single sitting before becoming critically ill from the Cocaine…LOL. 2,000,000 cans!!!

Even though it has such a small trace amount, the findings are “legally” irrelevant in Taiwan, where it is punishable by death, or a life sentence in prison to import cocaine regardless of the quantity. In Germany 11 out of 16 states have already banned the drinks.  Red Bull has also been the subject of bans in France, Denmark and Norway.

In Thailand, the drink is sold in small brown bottles that are like old-fashioned medicine bottles. It still has the distinctive blue label with the bulls running across it, but the taste of the drink is completely different. Unlike in the US, where Red Bulls are larger, more watered down and fizzy, in Thailand the drink is flat, thicker– like cough syrup and sweeter. It also has more Caffeine than the US version. The carbonated version of the drink was launched in 1987 as they prepared to enter Red Bull into various foreign markets.  Starting with Hungry in 1992, Red Bull expanded to the states (1997) and the Middle East (2000) as they are continuing to dominate the “Energy Drink” market.

In Thailand a can of Red Bull cost about 25 cents.  Last time I was in the USA, I think I bought a can for almost 2$.  Amazing the mark up in the drink.  It’s no wonder that in 2008 Forbes Magazine listed both Chaleo and Mateschitz as being the 260th richest persons in the world with an estimated net worth of 4 billion dollars!!!  Considering they both started the company with an initial investment of $500,000 USD, that’s a pretty good investment!