They also had to know that most people would be upset with the name. With all the efforts and tax dollars paid to prevent drug use (even though it will never work) people were going to get upset. The company had to know that at some point they were probably going to have to give up the name.

They may have known all that and chose Cocaine because of the initial buzz it likely got and because of the subsequent attention they knew they could generate when they had to give it up. They may also have miscalculated and not been prepared. Hard to know and hard to know if part of their success to this point was based solely on the name or if they have a good product behind that name and the majority of their customer base will follow them to whatever name comes next.

Thanks for stopping by Bill. I think I have a couple of your articles tucked away on the site somewhere. I remember when they first launched and know most everyone was thinking the same thing about the domain. It’s amazing they lasted with it as long as they did.

I think it was their plan to cause some controversy. I think their target market is also the one most likely to think naming a product after a drug is a cool thing. Or maybe just least likely to think it’s a bad thing.

And they are getting free publicity. I know it’s the only reason we’re talking about them here.

I, too, am surprised that they got away with calling the beverage “Cocaine” for so long. They had to known that something would have eventually come up regarding the naming and the marketing of it. Or maybe that was their plan all along? To do something controversial so that it would hit the news so they could get all the free publicity?