About

Powerthirst is an extreme advertisement created by the Canadian comedy group Picnicface for a fictional energy drink with the same name. It is best known for comically over-the-top sales pitches including “it gives you menergy.”

Origin

The comedy troupe Picnicface^[1] uploaded a commercial for Powerthirst on May 28th, 2007. In the four and a half years since it was uploaded, the video has been viewed on YouTube over 24 million times. Narrated by comedian Mark Little, the video goes into hyperbolic detail about how the drink will make you "uncomfortably energetic," allowing you to do such things as vomit a wedding and have 400 babies.

Spread

Three days after the original YouTube upload, the video was posted on CollegeHumor^[4], where it was shared on Facebook over 3500 times. On June 2nd, it was shared on I Am Bored^[11] and three days after, it was posted to the Break.^[7] Later that month, it was shared on poeTV^[12] and on the 16th, the first YTMND^[13] of the commercial was made. Powerthirst was added to Urban Dictionary^[8] on June 21st, 2007. The next month, a soundboard^[14] of clips was created, which now has over 13,000 views.

Sequels

After the success of the first video, a second commercial was made for CollegeHumor, receiving over 13 million views between October 30th, 2007 and February 2012. The final installment was uploaded on May 4th, 2010 but only received 2 million views.

Brawndo

In the 2006 film Idiocracy^[2], all of the world's water is replaced with an energy drink called Brawndo.^[3] in the movie, the drink depended on its hyperbolic advertising to enable the company to buy out the government. The faux commercials, made by members of Picnicface, are in the same style as Powerthirst, with similar over the top phrases including “It’s like a monster truck you pour into your face!”^[5]

Notable Fan Videos

Commercial Product

In 2009, Powerthirst was actualized and sold^[9] as a powered energy drink mix. The lime green powder mix has 190mg of caffeine, the consistency of crushed Pop Rocks and, when mixed with water, tastes similar to AMP energy drinks.^[15] The drink has a Facebook fan page^[10] with over 5000 likes

Search Interest

While search for "Brawndo" was the first to appear, both Powerthirst and Brawndo peaked between November and December 2007. Powerthirst saw a resurgence in May 2010, which may coincide with the release of the third commercial and appearing on the Tosh.0 blog^[6] that month.

External links