Fansided

Gatorade agrees to tobacco-like advertising restrictions based on age

By Derek Helling

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 16: Gatorade bottles are carried onto the field during warm-ups before the start of an college football game against the against the Utah Utes and San Jose State Spartans on September 16, 2017 at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 16: Gatorade bottles are carried onto the field during warm-ups before the start of an college football game against the against the Utah Utes and San Jose State Spartans on September 16, 2017 at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) /
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Thanks to some unwise decisions rooted in a mobile game, Gatorade now has some of the same age-based advertising restrictions that have been levied upon alcohol and tobacco products.

After Gatorade released a mobile game that made disparaging claims about one of life’s essential elements, water, the attorney general of California wasn’t having it.

Based on a report by Jen Christensen and Michael Nedelman of CNN, a recent lawsuit against Gatorade has been settled out of court. The suit alleged that a mobile game produced by Gatorade, Bolt!, targeted children in making false claims.

The game only allows players to advance by collecting droplets of Gatorade when running the course as Usain Bolt, and penalizes players for running into water droplets. Throughout its presentation, the consistent message for players is that Gatorade is superior to water.

In exchange for dropping the suit and allowing Gatorade to exit the scenario without admitting any wrongdoing, the California Department of Justice required Gatorade to agree to a few terms.

First off, Gatorade agreed to a payment of $300,000 to the state, $120,000 of which will go to fund research on hydration and nutrition in adolescents. The company can no longer make disparaging remarks about water, and it must disclose any endorsement relationships in social media posts. Finally, Gatorade can’t post any advertisements in any forum in which 35 percent or more of the audience is of 12 or younger.

That final restriction mirrors advertising restrictions placed on alcohol and tobacco distributors not only in the state of California, but also by the United States government as well. While Gatorade doesn’t present many of the same health risks for minors as alcohol and tobacco do, there is some legitimacy to the warning about the product.

According to PepsiCo’s nutrition information, a 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade can contain as much as 56 grams of sugar. Regular consumption of sugar in that concentration can lead to health problems like obesity and diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association.

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Bolt! is no longer as readily available, as Apple has removed it from the iTunes store. The marketing strategy of the game has ended up costing Gatorade more than it’s worth, and it should act as a lesson for any company who wants to mess with water or people’s children.