Naming an energy drink "Cocaine" will not make the illegal substance more popular than it already is, but it will get attention – through pissing people off – and I admire any entrepreneur ballsy enough to harness public outcry in the name of product promotion.

Admire the gall: Redux Beverages LLC named their new energy drink "Cocaine." They could have used a name that hinted at drug culture, instead they charged right through the front door. Not subtle, just straightforward advertising by controversy.

The controversy generated by the drink’s name makes up the bulk of its shoestring marketing campaign, which consists of a MySpace page, Web site, and all the free press they can get, including Rosie O’Donnell snorting the drink on “The View.”

Blowhard politicians eager to improve their public image have been the drink’s most vocal opponents, and its best promoters.

New York Councilman James Sanders, Jr. had this quote in the New York Times:
“There are only two reasons that you would seek to use this infamous and insidious name to market your so-called energy drink – either you are woefully ignorant of the horrors of cocaine addiction, or your god is the dollar bill, and not even human life is more sacred.”

Aren’t there any other worthier causes a public servant can get hot under the collar about? Maybe homelessness? All his rant did was gave the drink some pretty high-profile press, exactly what Redux Beverages expected.

“We had little money for marketing and advertising, so we chose a way to get as much as we could for free,” said Jamey Kirby, 42, who created the drink sold by a Las Vegas based company, and will begin distribution in San Francisco next week.

Unlike its namesake, Cocaine the drink is pretty harmless.

It contains 280mg of caffeine, an amount considered “caffeine-moderate,” said Sarah O’Brien, registered dietician at the University of California San Francisco.

Without the name, the drink is nothing more than a super-charged Red Bull. With the name, whether it outrages you or intrigues you, it can’t be ignored. I can’t stand the taste of energy drinks, yet I still can’t wait to put some in my refrigerator.

I’m not alone. People who have not even tried the drink have spent as much as $100 for a single case on eBay. Any salesman willing to ignore that kind of buzz should find another job.

For those afraid that the energy drink will kick-start a cocaine epidemic, put your fears to rest.

People a lot more influential than Jamey Kirby have helped generate the drug’s notoriety. Sigmund Freud raved about it, Manuel Noriega financed a government with it, and Rick James called it “a hell of a drug” on “Chappelle’s Show.”

The drug has had a mystique about it for decades. It is hard to see what an energy drink can do for cocaine that “Scarface” and Kate Moss have not already done.

Cocaine the drug promotes Cocaine the drink, much better than Cocaine the drink promotes cocaine the drug.

But controversy is short lived.

While Redux Beverages has certainly managed to capture headline, shock-marketing strategies have short, roughly eight-month life spans, according to William Pertulla, marketing professor at SF State.

The drink may never sit side by side next to the milk in your grandmother’s refrigerator, but it’s nice to know that there is a place for this kind of low-budget entrepreneurship in the United States. With a clever idea you can make a buck, step on some toes, and get your name in the papers.