South Africa’s energy battle went beyond that of electricity, after TV and radio host Sibusiso Leope, affectionately known as ‘DJ Sbu’ took jabs at the new sports drink, Prime.
‘’It’s nothing special. It’s not like it’s a drink you will drink that will drive your car or give you the Lotto numbers. It’s not gonna make you good at what you do’’, he said on his YouTube channel.
His remarks come after the drink created a frenzy here and reportedly sold out in most outlets across the world.
Owned by popular Youtubers, KSI and Logan Paul, reports suggest that Prime has generated $250 million (R4.5 billion) in retail sales worldwide with $45 million (R818.3 million) sales generated in January 2023 alone.
The internet went crazy over its estimated R800 selling price in the UK and the US a few weeks ago, however, Mzansi can breathe a sigh of relief as its retail partner in the country, Checkers, sells it at R40 per 500 ml.
Consumers can find it at Checkers Hyper stores and Checkers Sixty60 online in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng, which have started selling from the 1 of May, in Ice pop, Blue Raspberry, Lemon Lime and Tropical Punch flavours.
While others continue to indulge the drink and its different flavours, DJ Sbu cautioned against the excitement.
‘’Be careful of being duped or enticed about all these European, American and foreign brands and products when you have better here at home. You could be so excited about wearing other brands when you’ve got better here at home. Let’s not be too easily excited about things coming from overseas that are too expensive with no value to add into our lives’’, he added.
DJ Sbu launched his energy drink ‘’Mofaya’’ in 2014 and has since expanded it with 12 soft drink products in various flavours by also tapping into his creative use of kasi lingo, for instance, Cola-Sash Mnyamane, Ginger Beer-iGemmer, Granadilla-Slay Queen, to name a few.
However, Sbu said he wasn’t trying to pull down the brand because he loves competition and he also congratulated KSI and Paul on their success in South Africa. ‘’I want to congratulate them. I am never intimidated. I love competition. It’s actually not even competition because that’s a sports drink. That’s more of a sports drink like your Powerade and your Energade-they are in that marketplace’’, he said.
He also did not miss an opportunity to remind everyone that Mofaya received its regulation approval from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year to sell his drink in the US.
Sbu described the experience as humbling, saying there’s still more work to be done in terms of selling abroad.
