Laurent’s blog

French market can’t take the taunine [out of scope]

We all know that the French are different from the rest of the world. We got to love France for all its exquisite food, its wine, its architecture and culture but who would have guessed that a simple energy drink such as Red Bull would have such a hard time. Already available in 144 countries, it has been adopted from North America, to Asia, Africa, the Middle East. The brand has had much of the same faith as Coke when it is available in the middle of nowhere when, sometimes, you cant even buy bottled water.

The reason why the French authority has not approved its general availability for so long was that the drink contains taunine, the amino acid that gives it its “energy”, which is not considered safe (in France, of course). For the first time, it was replaced by arginine in much smaller doses.

Result: We should start seeing more Red Bull Minis on the street of Paris from now on.