When one fad succeeds, you can be assured that similar ones will follow. New anti-energy drinks are being marketed as alternatives to (what else?) energy drinks like Red Bull, while designer donuts that cost $5 or $6 a pop are playing off the upscale cupcake craze.
Despite the obvious reference to marijuana in Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda, the key mellowing ingredient in the drink is kava, not cannabis. Read about the trendy drink in the LA Times. When might you want a soda that’ll act like a mild sedative? After a long day, when you want to relax but not drink alcohol. Or perhaps after you’ve downed a few Red Bulls or three too many cups of coffee. Maybe they should sell a special new kind of four-pack: two energy drinks and two anti-energy drinks. You choose what order you want to ingest.
Meanwhile, if haute worked for cupcakes, maybe it’ll work for Homer Simpson’s favorite delicacy as well. As reported by the AP, bakeries and specialty shops in big cities are rolling out donuts laced with lemon chamomile custard and even bacon or Cocoa Puffs, thereby transplanting a blue collar greasy spoon mainstay into the “affordable luxury” category. Sorta like the $150 bottle of beer or $300 jeans, only without quite as much sticker shock. But at $5 or $6 apiece, the designer donut costs eight or nine times that of a standard donut, which is around the same markup on designer vs. regular jeans.
