Michigan Business & Economy

Energy drinks plus alcohol a risky combo for college kids. Is marketing to blame?

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published May 24, 2017 at 3:56 PM EDT

Red Bull faced a class action lawsuit over an ad campaign that claimed the caffienated beverage "gives you wings." The drink does not, in fact, give anyone wings.

Stateside's conversation with Aradhna Krishna, the Dwight F. Benton Professor of Marketing at the Ross of School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Energy drinks are omnipresent on college campuses. So is alcohol. Unsurprisingly, at college parties and bars, the two are often mixed together. How do such combinations of alcohol and caffeine affect young people?

That's what Aradhna Krishna explored in new research into alcohol and energy drinks.

Krishna is the Dwight F. Benton Professor of Marketing at the Ross of School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Unlike prior studies of alcohol and energy drinks, Krishna’s research looked at a particular psychological component of these concoctions: the marketing that encourages young people to drink them. Stateside spoke with her about her findings.

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