Red Bull settled 'gives you wings' for $13M — the slogan implied literal performance

Red Bull built its brand on the slogan 'Red Bull gives you wings.' For two decades, the phrase appeared on every can, every ad, and every extreme-sports sponsorship the company funded. The slogan was understood as a metaphor — but the company also claimed the drink 'increases performance,' 'improves concentration,' and 'speeds reaction speed.'

In 2013, a class action lawsuit filed in New York argued these claims were false advertising. The plaintiff said he had drunk Red Bull for years and experienced no improvement in performance, concentration, or reaction speed. The lawsuit was not about wings — it was about the specific functional claims the company made alongside the metaphor.

In October 2014, Red Bull settled for $13 million. The settlement offered every customer who had bought Red Bull since 2002 either a $10 cash refund or $15 worth of Red Bull products. The company also agreed to stop using the specific performance claims and changed its packaging language. The case became a landmark in food and beverage false-advertising law: a slogan can survive as metaphor, but functional claims printed on the can must be provable.