There’s a wild conspiracy theory going around about Red Bull cans—but there’s a simple explanation to debunk it.
Red Bull is a popular energy drink known for its ability to provide a quick energy boost. Some drink it for the caffeine hit (one 8.4 oz can is equivalent to a cup of coffee). Others, however, genuinely like the flavor.
Despite other energy drinks entering the market in recent years, Red Bull has maintained its staying power. This is after decades of interesting marketing campaigns (remember the outlandish “Red Bull gives you wings” commercials) and celebrity partnerships.
And if you’ve ever been to a bar, you might know that it’s even entered the nightlife market as a signature cocktail: the vodka Red Bull.
What does a dot on the bottom of a Red Bull mean?
In a viral video with over 3.2 million views, creator Angel Gaskin was stoked by what was in her hands.
In the clip, she just grabbed up two Red Bulls from the store. She then shows how they each had a blue dot on the bottom.
“That feeling when the redbull has a blue dot,” the text overlay read.
There’s a theory going around that Red Bulls taste different depending on the color of the dot on the can. It appears blue is the most coveted color. In a video from a different TikToker, they showed the cans at their local store had yellow, green, pink, and orange dots.
“Look at colored dots on bottom of can blue purple pink dots sweeter, green brown yellow more sour,” the caption read.
A person on a forum gave a similar explanation: “Did you know there was different varieties of Red Bull.. semi secret.. like some are sweeter, some are tarter, etc than others so they get marked accordingly with a different colored dot..”
Theory debunked?
While Red Bull has yet to confirm either theory, the more logical explanation that commenters have shared is that the colors are related to factory production.
“It’s tracking markers from the machines. so they know who to blame if its messed up,” a person explained.
A Redditor added the following in-depth explanation: “The Nordson Ink-Dot I.D. system identifies which spray machine coats each can on the line. The system applies a small dot of ink on the bottom of each can as it enters the spray machine. A different ink color is used for each machine on the coating line, so the source of unacceptable coatings can be immediately identified. There is no need to shut down all machines on the line to determine which machine is producing the defect.”
Commenters react
“blue dot is the best! yellow dot is the worst,” a person said.
“I uses to work in retail. people would walk round drinking the red bull and say they brought it from home. if the red bull had a blue mark on the bottom then it came from inside the store,” another shared.
“The dot is just a way of tracking it back to a machine to know what messed up when making the can,” a commenter added.
@angelxgaskinzz the way i’m holding the redbull 😭#viral #fyp #yum #redbull #brunnette #redbullgivesyouwings ♬ Eatin’ Good – Woodcamp
The Daily Dot reached out to Gaskin for comment via TikTok direct message and comment. We also reached out to Red Bull via email.
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