Gatorade Argumentative Essay

Gatorade A Game Changer

Gatorade, the sports drink that changed sports forever continues to be a success through the science that has made the brand credible. In 1965 the Florida Gator football team was preparing to win a national championship, but the team was facing difficulties. Many of the Gator players couldn’t bare the Florida heat and were constantly being injured. A Florida Gator assistant coach met with a team of the schools university physicians to find out why so many of the players were being affected by the heat. The physicians discovered that the Gators were not replacing the electrolytes and carbohydrates that had been lost from sweat. Gatorades official website says, “The researchers then took their findings into the
Stating that at a young age, kids do not need to drink a sports drink to achieve maximum performance, water alone is beneficial. Doctor Schneider says, “The caffeine and other stimulants in these beverages can cause high blood pressure, an increased heart rate, anxiety, and insomnia” (Schneider). There is no research provided for her argument, she’s merely arguing through experience. Schneider also indirectly addresses other problems with Gatorade, kids are not the only ones who shouldn’t drink Gatorade; Gatorade is meant for athletes going through strenuous activity, no one else. It is suggested that if there was some sort of restriction on the selling of Gatorade, Gatorade could lose billions of dollars in
During this time Pepsi sold Gatorade through its massive distribution system creating many new flavors. Gatorade was no longer directed just to athletes, it was now being sold in restaurants as a soft drink along with other Pepsi products. During this time Gatorade controlled 80% of the seven billion dollar sports drink industry. But in 2008 the massive distribution strategy collapsed with the economy and the sports drink industry was now worth six billion and Gatorade controlled only 70%. So what changed? Athletes started to lose interest in Gatorade after the collapse due to the creation of other nutrition companies who sold products to stores that specifically targeted athletes, like GNC. Robb O’Hagen the president of Gatorade says, “The huge aha! For me was, we’re an athletic performance brand, we’re selling in convenience stores, grocery stores, Wal-Mart but we don’t show up in a sporting goods Store” (O’Hagen). In 2009, this all changed when they came out with the G series and entered the sports nutrition market. The G series brought Gatorade back to athletes and to the science that gave the brand its credibility. Gatorade now has products for every aspect of a work out, this includes pre, during and post workouts. Gatorade also took its products into specialty stores that specifically target