Laurie Greenland Picks Up Red Bull Sponsorship

 Good for Mak, he's totally right, that stuff is absolute poison. Crazy that people buy enough of it to finance two F1 teams among other things.

A cousin of mine was the team doctor for an auto racing team that had a Red Bull sponsorship...he prohibited the team members from drinking the stuff. Most RB (and Monster, Rockstar, etc) athletes drink cans filled with water, I can't believe the Athertons shill for RB as hard as they do.

 @mnorris122: yes but you have to remember, it is an energy drink made to give you a large energy boost, which it does, "poisonous" or not

 These guys are a good example of what to do when approached by shitcans:

www.wedrinkwater.com/pages/reason

 @mnorris122: There's more sugar and caffeine in a Starbucks flavoured latte than in a tin of Red Bull. Glucuronolactone and Taurine are also safe in moderate doses and the effects on the mind and body are well known. Clearly drinking lots of a caffeinated high sugar drink aren't going to be good for you but in moderation, it doesn't seem any worse than any other sugary drink.

 it's evolved into as much a media company as it is a seller of energy drinks.

I love the athletes and participate in tons of sports they promote and watch a ton of red bull TV.
Think I've drank 5 or 6 red bulls in my life....all of which were free at some event.
I'm glad they are out there, giving athletes in otherwise developing/fringe sports a chance and providing video support and televising awesome stuff i otherwise would never see.

Carry on Evil Corporation.....

 Where is RB white knight Wacky designs ? I wanna hear his unique and reasonable defense why red bull is a great supporter of the mtb community and action sports in general?

 He can think of Red Bull whatever he wants but shitting on a company that payed his bills and he freely decided to represent is just a sign of poor character. And OMG a company is interested in making money...

 yes id like to read this too
@WAKIdesigns

 @VedranBaric: mentioning Drinkwater with Redbull is R.E.T.A.R.D.E.D tm. You drink water to hydrate, you drink Redbull to get stimulated, just like you drink beer to get more or less drunk... holy sht... it doesn't take a rocket scientist does it? Do you shout drink water when you see people drinking beer which is at least as bad for you in various ways than Redbull?! go on, you are so smart? Go, please, go around pubs telling poeople to drink water. So bloody awake mate! So courageous! You are doing the right thing aye?... see the world for what it is. Don't read some stupid sht and think you are woke cuz you aren't.

 @WAKIdesigns: You're missing the point of Drink Water. It's not about "drink nothing but water". It was started as a counter-culture within snowboarding against the total domination energy drinks have over the whole industry and culture. From the perspective of kids all the cool pros they look up to drink energy drinks, so in order for them to fit in and be cool they drink them too. Drink Water is about showing kids they don't have to drink energy drinks to fit in or be cool, and to reclaim a bit of the culture from those giant corporations.

 @WAKIdesigns: Those aspects of snowboard culture come from snowboarders and are unrelated to the big corporate influences. I'm not here defending snowboard culture as perfect. Most of the aspects you list here I agree aren't good. The difference is where that influence is coming from and who is 'controlling' the culture. Snowboard culture, good or bad, should be in the hands of snowboarders.

 @Mikevdv: yes and no; they're a media company who's only sponsor is... themselves. The one and only goal of RB's 'free' content or any event or sponsorship is to sell more cans.

And I say 'free' in quotation marks cause is not really free, you're paying a very valuable thing, your attention. That attention is what shapes things and have made RB a staple, not the questionable flavor.

 I came here for the necromancy. All I got was Red Bull.

 @ismasan: really? So you will be teaching people about directing attention by crapping on Red Bull which has like no other company, promoted this sport and made it what it is today.

It is free. it doesn't get not free because you get aware of the mechanism of their sales.

 @WAKIdesigns: well, first I'm not giving shit to RB, I'm neutral there. From time to time I have energy drink too, is just a kick when I need it.

I'm not worried for the attention given by adults who know what they do, but I'm quite concerned for kids.
I was raised on water and I knew a couple things by the time RB was available in every single store of Europe, but kids these days start drinking RB at age 12, and often they do it on a daily basis, and is all right to them cause is 'athlete's drink'. By the time they know or care it's been a few years on the poison. Loads of sugar and caffeine don't do any good to kids. 'Drink water' started for the kids too.

 @ismasan: I will agree with you on that. I also have absolutely NOTHING against keeping Red Bull and any other energy drink under same schedule as alcohol.

 like them or not (personally I don’t drink the stuff) without the drink companies some of these sports would simply not exist at an elite level @R0wsdower:

 drink water

 @WAKIdesigns: evian is nestle so pretty much the devil himself -just saying

Also i think Makkens story is very personal /cultural. If you promote an in your country forbidden substance and you know it is also not the best for the health of your fans, a moral conflict could arise. I live in Bavaria beer advertisements are omipresent its hard for me to imagine banning them. If we are talking cigarettes it would be a totally different story, free will is an ilusion.

 @Mikevdv: true me too, but the problem I have is the product is taking up entire coolers at the store.
one entire cooler of RB, one entire cooler of monster. The room for anything healthy on the shelves is getting smaller.

tech tip- In the US, Sunoco station mini mart/A-plus marts now have the best 100% juice drinks I have seen in a convenience store. Way better than Naked. 4 great flavors, check it out. perfect before ride fuel up.

 @VedranBaric: Water? Like what's in the toilet? No way! Brawndo for the win!!

 @optimumnotmaximum : I think prize money in many individual sports went down significantly when cigarette companies stopped promoting them. windsurfing in particular used to have like $50-$100,000 purses.
Now many events are funded by the windsurfers themselves.

If beer companies didn't promote sports there would be a lot less sports events.
Bit of a moral dilemma, but you got to work with the system or its going to work you.

Also, anyone who has ran a decent business knows that "real business is dirty business."
Can't avoid it.

 There are a whole lot of products out there much worse than Red Bull, and plenty of good brands doing nothing for any sports I’m interested in. I’d never touch the stuff myself (maybe in the early hours of the morning when very drunk), but you have to have some respect for some stuff they do. Which is worse, the vodka or the Red Bull… or a beer, a Starbucks coffee, or a takeaway curry etc.? Are all these products as offensive, should they all be banned… and would we be better off without Red Bull sponsorship and Red Bull tv? I don't think so.

 @WAKIdesigns: You say people whine, but really, you're the only one over reacting, here...

I don't see redbull as a healthy drink, that's why I don't think it should be promoted around sport events, just like mc donald's, alcoholic beverages, and others.

At some point, it's not even promotion, it's more like shoving a product down people's throat.

If you like it, good for you, but I don't think it should be advertised as a "cool" thing, the way it is right now, especially on fields where you find kids and young adults who are suggestible.

 @evildos: adults are suggestible. Everyone is. I am, you are. The only reason you are not hooked on it is because you are hooked on something else you find to be "helpful" and seek comfort for your opinion among like minded people. I don't feel being shoved anything else but a couple of standards. There's always choice not to drink Red Bull, not to take Meth, not to get hanged up of some ridiculous diet, or whatever

 @wildedge586: what’s wrong that opinion? You have problems stopping yourself from drinking it? Do you need mommy and daddy to tell you want is right or wrong, or your bros to assure you in your opinions? #drinkredbull

 Anyone going to the Springwater Rampage next year?

 @endlessblockades: you have to be antivaxer to spectate...

 @evildos: The problem is marketing anything as a "cool" thing works, but where do you draw the line? Cigarettes used to be marketed as cool, now they've long since had their marketing methods cracked down on in the name of health and safety because of the direct tie to their effects. But in terms of energy drinks, I think these would need to be solidly convicted on detrimental health effects before any regulation of marketing could happen. Otherwise, you're starting a slippery slope of limiting other less-healthy items such as Pepsi, or chips, etc. When extensively consumed long term do energy drinks negatively affect health? Probably. But so do Pepsi and chips, should those not be marketed as "cool"?

 @klondike08: I have never read a negative opinion about beer, which is harmful in many more ways than redbull ( which BtW isn’t any more harmful than a latte with lots of sugar) and beer is a staple here on Pinkbike. A part of lifestyle. Beerduro? Just read comments under todays article on Yeti.

 DrinkWater have some amazing people on board, all have some amazing video sections:

Josh Bryceland
Rick McCrank
Chris Benchetler
Terje Haakonson

Makes me wanna drink water. Big time.

 I worked for RedBull for a couple years, did marketing and event promotion while completing scientific training during my undergraduate degrees. Company treated me great, sponsored a lot of really cutting edge events, and generally were a company I could support. I even entertained having a career in marketing due to my enjoyment of working at RedBull. Got a competitive fellowship to do marketing with Apple, found out they were (And still are) enthusiastically supporting slave labor in China (And Chinese government sponsored retaliation against whistleblowers) for the production of their products (Foxconn is the producer). Quit my job with Apple, and pursued graduate degrees in public health and basic science. Decided I wanted to do work where I was actually making a difference and I now work in public health and generally have disdain for most major corporations.

However, I have no disdain for RedBull. Yes they are still pushing a for profit agenda but they are not exploiting third world labor or lax environmental regulations to extract wealth from other parts of the world. And sure all the sugar in their beverages (as with any soda) is a concern from a chronic disease standpoint.

I guess I also have a hard time feeling sorry for the poor underprivileged pro athletes that have to struggle so much with RedBull support to live their dream of being a professional athlete (sarcasm fully intended here)

 @Altron5000: please do drink water, you do need it. If you just drink Redbull you die. Or get crazy and want to save the world by flying airplanes to ride E-bikes. Sorry that is an effect of Monster energy...

 @Mikevdv: Well said, I completely agree.
I don't see why people get on their high horse about the company. They've chosen to direct their sponsorship money towards action sports that other companies haven't touched and that has been immense for many of these sports.

 @mmuzz: because small people like to get on high horses to pretend they are ethical (better than you) and that they can see everything better from above. Nobody here is mentioning any data, people are just talking about higher values like purity of loosely defined “culture”, health, reclaiming what corporations have taken and keeping the youth away from countless pitfalls... just in case youth goes in a different direction than what little Napoleon finds righteous. Guess what, youth doesn’t give a shit, they roll how they roll. #drinkwater #soberiscool, #sexaftermarriage #zerotolerance #drugsnotevenonce and all other mental disorders older people have

 People want to defend Redbull for "promoting" all these sports. "Extreme" sports were taking off and it was a big opportunity. Redbull just happened to scheme up a plan to try to monopolize. Either way, the sports would grow and other copanies would have seen the opportunity soon enough.

 @B650wagon: really? Where’s Monster Fest or Rockstar worx? Where’s World Cup DHO and XCO sponsored by Burn? All I see is leather jackets, shiny buttocks, strings and wanker diesel trucks. Sprayed with a couple of keep it real hip hoppies that haven’t got in touch with reality yet. The difference is, hippies of the 70s at least took lots of mind altering drugs, you take weed at best. They also went into a field for 3 days, they did something and stopd for something. You sit on your toilet romanticizing sht the founders of all these “outdoor forms of having fun”, laughing at the push of the universe, eould never romanticize. The very fact of you calling it “extreme” sports is exposing you. Nobody calls anything “extreme” if they don’t want a fkng credit for being a member, or don’t want to point a finger at someone not playing according to the rules of old pricks. Snowboarding extreme my ass. Check out Ski downhill or Ski jumping or Ski touring - the 50yr old “Classics”. Like riding down an alpine asphalt road at 80km/h with 100 other dudes in 20-50cm distance from one another. But no Rampage Extreme! So progression!

You guys just can’t take growing up, you can’t understand that whatever you think you were doing transformed, got professionalized, average level went
Up and top level sky rocketed, you are not a part of the game anymore, you are just a dude realizing his aging, being less and less relevant because whatever you thought you achieved back then means nothing today. Also because when you were starting whatever crap you were doing, you sucked and you didn’t know you suck. Now you know you sucked and probably still suck. And even if not, you are stuck in some old memory of life you never lived.

All good things come to an end. Deal with it Princess. You can’t live your fkng life looking up to some perfect space time, you have what you have and make the best of it. If snowboards become some splitboards, skis get wider, trails are full of ebikes, you still show up and do your thing, that’s what you fkng do. And there is nobody worth a tiniest bit of your friendship who will judge you for trying the new thing.

Redbull became the biggest force in nearly all sports. Getting a blue/silver helmet from them is synonymous with getting an Olympic Gold medal. Only the best get it. Your respect is irrelevant. They are the powerhouse fueling the“extreme” sports better than any other company that does not make a fkng piss beer. Like Stella Artois.

 I am not defending Red Bull, theyneed no defending and their legacy is clear. I am telling you to get your sht together. I actually wonder what is the color of piss of all these #drinkwater woke as fuk folks. Do you even drink enough water bro. Brah? Braaaah?

 @WAKIdesigns: you sound like a coke addict

 @B650wagon: experience?

 No shit! How long are they going to stretch out the field test. I want the Enduro bikes.

 @MikeyMT: sorry guys, we've got Chris editing as fast as possible. We'll have the Trail bike editors' choice round table dropping later today.

 @brianpark: sawwwwwwwwweeeeeet. thanks

 @brianpark: YAAAAASSSS!

 I'm glad I'm not the only one... the addiction is strong.

 @brianpark: thanks. This addiction is because we want to know which bike broke miserably, get real people

 @Lagr1980: Not me, i'm generally interested in the bikes.

 @brianpark: that was a very Canadian response

 There are alot of products out there that can be terrible for people. Soda, beer, starbucks, dunkin donuts, McDonalds, oreos, etc. The list is endless. All these products are terrible if not consumed in moderation. Let not single out redbull here as some kind of boogeyman. I'd bet that one big mac a day is much more detrimental to ones health than a can of redbull every day.

 @sino428: I agree- and this wasn't a singling out of Redbull as a demon. Rather, I think Energy Drinks in particular have been marketed with the implication that they enhance athletic performance when I think it would be rare for a health expert, sports trainer, or athlete to suggest that the beverage positively influences health or sport specific performance. It not just them. It all marketing for products- but these are the big names in this sport. A Redbull sponsorship is the epitome of success in our sport despite the fact the product does not relate to performance in the sport or even general health outcomes. Also- it is a conflict because I genuinely appreciate their contribution to the sport; allowing athletes to train, produce media, develop products etc and the sport wouldn't be what it is without them.

 You would have to be naive or retarded to believe drinking a sugary bad-tasting drink was going to single handedly make you into an elite level athlete.

 @snl1200: I get where you are coming from but there are actually many studies that have shown the benefits of caffeine (that's all most energy drinks really are) on athletic performance. That's why its the main ingredient in most "pre-workout" supplements out there. Many of which are in fact recommended by trainers and used by high level athletes. Of course there is the issue of sugar content in some of these drinks, and also the caveat that everything is done in moderation. But its not crazy at all to say that a Redbull (or any other energy drink) could be a positive aid for training or competing athletes.

 @sino428: For sure. I regularly used caffeine as a study aid throughout the latter part of my undergrad, MA and PhD coursework. I believe it really helped- though at times when I over did it also saw the negative impact through disrupted sleep (which research now supports is one of the most important factors in memory and physical performance) and increased anxiety. It's so complex though using things like that as there are real pros and cons. So yes- I would agree that there may be some short term benefits of it in certain situations but would suggest the way use is advertised in sport has far more risk of harm than benefits.

As someone who works clinically and in research with child and adolescent mental health I do have a very negative bias towards Redbull and similar beverages. I will own that that bias carries over outside of areas of clinical importance or competence to me. However, my opinions on it weren't formed by some predisposed philosophical framework of "big company bad", "no to drugs" etc. but rather from years of working with mood disorders and seeing the dramatic negative impact of this product on children and youth developmentally in the areas I am trained to assess.

 @snl1200: Well I would say that children are a completely different story. I don't think that kids should be drinking any meaningful amounts of caffeine. I do agree there is a gray area here about whether this stuff is marketed to kids though. But the products themselves are generally safe as long as they are not abused. Hardly evil as some would want us to believe, especially compared to so much of the other garbage out there that people put in their bodies.

 @sino428: the cartoon bull? It’s marketed at kids for sure. My 4.5 year old has already asked me what it is.

 @yzedf: Calling the red bull logo a cartoon is a stretch. Also just because your kid knows the brand red bull doesn't mean they are going to drink it. Thats were a thing called parenting comes to play and you teach them about the possible dangers of energy drinks.... But hey thats tough stuff so better just blame red bull for all your problems lol

 Red Bull and caffeine in general absolutely enhances athletic performance. It's obviously not going to turn you into an elite athlete but there are definite improvements to be made by taking 2 espressos worth of caffeine roughly an hour before exercise. The other ingredients are also likely to help in the short term rather than hinder.

 @yzedf: if you want to say that by sponsoring action sports athletes they are marketing to kids, I would say you might have a case. But the ‘cartoon’ bull? No that’s silly. Your 4 year old is going to see and ask about a lot of things they see because that’s what 4 year old kids do.

 @nismo325: oh Jesus. It’s a cartoon. It sure isn’t a photo, or a realistic drawing. It’s a logo with all the talent of someone that was ok at Microsoft Paint back in the day. All three primary colors. Have you ever looked at kids toys? Primary colors and cartoon logos. Don’t believe me? Ask Camel about Joe. Do I give a shot? Nope. “It’s like soda.” “Oh, I don’t drink soda.” Parenting isn’t that hard.

 @sino428: sigh. See comment above.

 @jaame: that's a very subjective measure. You've been around long enough to know that for every person who is evolving, another is scratching around their trough with their eyes and ears jammed full of BS. When marketers get psychological profiling down to a T, they can convince targeted groups of pretty much anything. Don't believe that a free market will regulate itself enough to protect the population. Look what the food industry has done to the BMI of Americans, who are supposedly the most advanced society on earth. We all contain certain buttons. It's not hard for an entity to push them if it's prepared to do what it takes to hack into people's minds.

 @BenPea: absolutely yes. Everything has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Do I believe a caffeine and sugar heavy drink can marginally improve my performance? Yes. Is there anything on the planet that can turn me into an elite level athlete? No. One would hope parents and teachers (in countries with compulsory education up to the age of 1 would make it impossible for this to be missed.

 @yzedf: I'm sorry there is nothing about a red outline of a bull that makes it kid specific. Read any research on logo colors and designs (there is plenty) and you will understand why Redbull chose the colors they did (specifically red for the bull). If you don't feel like doing that I'll save you some time, it has nothing to do with children.

 Forgive me if I am mistaken, but the English brand name Red Bull is a direct translation of the Thai name of the original drink from way back in time before marketing as we know it was a thing that forced people to buy things they don’t want or need.

 I agree, good on Laurie. Take the money. Always take the money. Cocaine, hookers and a trip to the dentist? Have it!

 @jaame: that escalated quickly.

 Fact the 4 people that down voted you are communists

 @nismo325: haha or socialists who think Laurie should send them a check.

 @nismo325: A shocking number of people are perfectly fine with a governing body taking away their individual liberties.

 @danny611 thank you for the rational words and truth.

 Well water is the main ingredient in redbull.....

 @nismo325: www.wedrinkwater.com/pages/reason

Regardless, big ups to Laurie. Amazing resource to have in his back pocket.

 i join you on this

 yes!

 an awake human here! very rare in this site...

 I'm as stoked as you are

 Hellz yeah. I was contemplating if I want to go on living this afternoon. Now I’m back in business with life!

 @jaame: LOL!!!

 Where do you see this?

 Nah she's still with them instagram.com/stories/tahneeseagrave/2182209550030198214?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=18lpkcur3aqm5

 People would lose their jobs if they dropped someone with the sex appeal of tahnee.