Family sued after Sarah Katz died last year after drinking Charged Lemonade, apparently unaware of soda’s high caffeine content
Family sued after Sarah Katz died last year after drinking Charged Lemonade, apparently unaware of soda’s high caffeine content
It’s not really explicit though, is it? Everyone I’ve shown that picture to has been shocked that the 30 oz drink they would have gotten would have any caffeine, because deapite having a label, it is not clear enough for the average person to notice.
I feel like if I had a sensitivity to caffeine I’d be real suspicious of anything called “charged lemonade”
Again. Looking at the sign. What I see is three lemonade containers. They look exactly like every other lemonade container I’ve ever seen. I’m not reading the little text at the top or bottom, I’m reading “Mango Yuzu Citrus,” “Strawberry Lemon Mint,” and “Fuji Apple Cranberry,” and I’m gonna fill up my 30 oz cup with that Fuji Apple Cranberry, because it sounds like a good flavor. I’m not gonna read the marketing fluff, and I suspect that the vast, vast majority of people, yourself included, would never think to, if the only information at our disposal is those signs.
But if you’ve already made up your mind about who was right and who was wrong, I can absolutely see you convincing yourself that of course she should have read the marketing fluff, despite the fact that she had no real reason to because lemonade doesn’t typically have caffeine. This conversation will go absolutely nowhere because there’s no way for me to convince you that A) it is normal to ignore the marketing fluff, and B) it is not normal for lemonade to have caffeine, and so C) Panera is in the wrong in this by not making it abundantly clear that one large cup of this lemonade would contain more than the daily recommended limit of a psychoactive drug.
I would say that they shouldn’t be able to sell individual drinks that contain that much caffeine in the first place. Like I’ve said elsewhere, 30 oz of coffee is too much coffee. But at least you know what you’re getting into when you drink 30 oz of coffee. So the bare minimum is to make it wildly clear, like super duper clear, that this lemonade has this much caffeine. Make it part of the sign, in text as big as the flavor. It should simply not be possible to accidentally order a drink that contains so much caffeine that it can kill someone with a heart condition.
I do see the sign, and they could be clearer about the amount of caffeine. But it’s not like you’re just ordering “a lemonade” and they bring it to you and surprise!
It’s like buying a hard lemonade and being shocked that it has alcohol in it. Just like “rockstar”, “go”, “rowdy”, “full throttle”. “Charged” suggests an energy drink that happens to be lemonade flavored.
And if I were sensitive to caffeine I’d be cautious about anything named like that.
She likely didn’t ask for a “Charged Lemonade,” she asked for a 30 oz fountain cup and filled it up at the self serve kiosk. There’s no reason to assume she knew it was called “charged lemonade,” because like I already said, nobody pays attention to the marketing fluff.
So you didn’t actually look at your own picture where it is clearly labeled as “charged lemonade”?
There’s only so many ways I can say the phrase “people don’t look at small text when it looks like marketing fluff” before I start repeating myself
I would hope people read as far as the product name but okay.