It's No Bull

Earlier this week, a Saucyreader asked how the cocaine found in Red Bull products is any different than what is used in Coca-Cola. Red Bull has attempted to clarify the situation by pointing out - trace amounts of cocaine were found in the company's Simply Cola, not its flagship product, Red Bull Energy Drink. Red Bull has defended its use of what is commonly known as “decocainised coca leaf extract”, as a product that is Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) and pointing out coca leaf isn't an exclusive to Red Bull, it is widely used to flavor colas around the world.

But it wasn't decocainized coca leaf that was used in Coca-Cola's original formula, it was cocaine. This is a fact, confirmed in court testimony by Asa Candler, who gained control of Coca-Cola from the company's founder, John Pemberton. Sworn testimony by the company's owner in a federal lawsuit is an inconvenient confirmation that cocaine was used in the beverage's formula. Undaunted, this is fact that is pretty much ignored by the company’s historians and PR department. Coca-Cola is more interested in to promoting its founder as a altruistic inventor and healer rather than a bankrupt schemer, a patent medicine pushing pharmacist, opium addict and seller of cocaine. In fairness: Pemberton's enthusiasm for cocaine was not that uncommon in the late 19th century. At that time the drug was hailed as a miracle compound - widely used as a local anesthesia by pharmacists and doctors and of particular interest to Pemberton, the drug was also believed to be a cure or corrective for opium addiction.


When Candler acquired Cola-Cola, he dramatically reduced the amount of cocaine in the soft drink's syrup to a fraction of what was called for in Pemberton's original recipe. In 1903, Candler contracted to have coca leaves decocanized – along with a public backlash against the drug; evangelical protests and untoward federal interest in regulating cocaine; Georgia’s legislature had made the sale of cocaine illegal in December of 1902. Although the formula is secret in the sense it isn’t published, it is believed that deconcanized coca is still included in Coca-Cola’s base syrup. But in really microscopic amounts - about 1 gram per gallon of syrup which is then diluted by 6 parts of carbonated water = 1/4 teaspoon per 7 gallons of liquid.

The formula for the short-lived New Coke contained no coca leaf. The updated recipe also bypassed cane sugar and real vanilla in favor of corn syrup and vanillin. Coca, sugar and vanilla – 3 ingredients, sourced primarily from Central and South American; countries whose governments could no longer be manipulated or be counted on to be friendly to US interests. Looking forward, the Atlanta-based company might have been right to change the taste of their drink. Editorially, considering that Coca-Cola had been losing market share for a generation nor was the company confident they could obtain the ingredients for the original formula. Considering the aftermath of New Coke was increased sales, renewed brand vigor and the explosion of focus groups and micro-demographics in marketing - New Coke isn't quite the textbook example of a business/marketing failure that people claim it is.

To address the question directly - Red Bull and to clarify, Red Bull Cola is really no different from Cola-Cola, actually it might be doing a little better than Coca-Cola did historically in the sense they aren't pouring liquid cocaine in a drink and selling it as a medicine.