Talk:Rockstar Energy

On 11 June 2025, it was proposed that this article be moved from Rockstar (drink) to Rockstar Energy. The result of the discussion was moved.

Archives: 1

This page has archives. Sections older than 1825 days may be automatically archived by when more than 6 sections are present.

This article was nominated for deletion on November 1, 2005. The result of the discussion was keep.

Food and drink: Beverages Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Food and drink, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of food and drink related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Food and drinkWikipedia:WikiProject Food and drinkTemplate:WikiProject Food and drinkFood and drink

Mid

This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Related taskforces:
/
	This article is within the scope of the Beverages Task Force, a task force which is currently considered to be inactive.

Food and Drink task list:

To edit this page, select here

Here are some tasks you can do for WikiProject Food and drink:

Help bring these Top Importance articles currently B Status or below up to GA status: Agaricus bisporus (i.e. mushroom), Beef, Bread, Curry, Drink, Food, Ham and eggs, Soy sauce, Sushi, Yogurt
Bring these Top Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Beer, French cuisine, Sugar
Bring these High Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Apple, Burger King, Fish
Participate in project-related deletion discussions.
Delete unrelated trivia sections found in articles. Please review WP:Trivia and WP:Handling trivia to learn how to do this.
Add the {{WikiProject Food and drink}} project banner to food and drink related articles and content to help bring them to the attention of members. For a complete list of banners for WikiProject Food and drink and its child projects, select here.
Provide photographs and images for Category:Wikipedia requested images of food
Consider joining this project's Assessment task force. List any project ideas in this section

Note: These lists are transcluded from the project's tasks pages.

Brands

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Brands, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of brands on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BrandsWikipedia:WikiProject BrandsTemplate:WikiProject BrandsBrands
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

The Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require that editors disclose their "employer, client, and affiliation" with respect to any paid contribution; see WP:PAID. For advice about reviewing paid contributions, see WP:COIRESPONSE.

EC for Golin (talk · contribs) has been paid by Golin on behalf of Rockstar Energy.

Information not up to Wikipedia guidelines

The user below has a request that an edit be made to Rockstar Energy. That user has an actual or apparent conflict of interest.
The requested edits backlog is low. There are currently 90 requests waiting for review.

Please read the instructions for the parameters used by this template for accepting and declining them, and review the request below and make the edit if it is well sourced, neutral, and follows other Wikipedia guidelines and policies.

Hi! My name is Edward, I work for Golin and represent our client Rockstar (drink).

Due to the above, I will be making requests on the Talk page for ways to improve the article.

For my first request, I would like to discuss the content in the Corporate governance subsection of the Criticism section.

As it currently stands, this information is poorly sourced (either to press releases or sources not meeting this site's reliability standards), outdated (does not include resolutions to certain events) or irrelevant (information gets a bit off topic and is better suited for the subject's Wikipedia page rather than the Rockstar drink one).

Because of the above, I would like to present the following: First, delete this subsection as a whole. Second, rewrite the content and wrap it into the History section in a way that is more on topic and does not use press releases. See below:

In 2009, prior to PepsiCo’s ownership of Rockstar Energy, it was revealed that founder Russell Weiner is the son of radio host Michael Savage, and Janet Weiner, Savage's wife, served as the Rockstar Energy and Savage Productions Chief Financial Officer. This sparked protests and boycotts, which Rockstar Energy responded to by taking action.^[1]^[2]

References

^ Siegel, Joe (June 11, 2009). "Should You Boycott Rockstar?". Edge Media Network. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
^ "Newsom campaign to return Rockstar CEO's donation". The San Diego Union Tribune. August 29, 2016. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.

The above should be placed in the History section in a way that it fits within the timeline. This would mean above the paragraph that starts with, "Production and distribution for the..." and below the paragraph that starts with, "By 2007, Rockstar was one of..."

Thanks to editors reading and weighing this request to make the article more accurate and neutral. Please let me know if there are any questions. EC for Golin (talk) 14:59, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@78.26: Hello! I was looking at this Talk page and saw your recent discussions about improving the article. I wanted to see if you had any interest in reviewing my proposal above for improving the content in the History section. Thanks! EC for Golin (talk) 20:11, 29 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You're on the right track here, but your proposed text is no good. "it was revealed" is weasely and so is "taking action" without saying what the action is. GA-RT-22 (talk) 21:15, 18 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

GA-RT-22 thank you for the feedback! Seeing your examples, I can tell what you mean. Based on this, I have a new language to suggest:

Add to the History section: In 2009, prior to PepsiCo’s ownership of Rockstar Energy, customers learned that founder Russell Weiner is the son of radio host Michael Savage, and Janet Weiner, Savage's wife, served as the Rockstar Energy and Savage Productions Chief Financial Officer. This sparked protests and boycotts.^[1] In response, Rockstar Energy donated to LGBT organizations and improved its workplace LGBT inclusion policies.^[2]
Since the above suggestion covers the information here, remove the entirety of the Corporate governance subsection

The only thing not in my draft is the Gavin Newsom returned donation. This is because the donation was from Weiner specifically, not Rockstar like the current page says. So right now this is inaccurate and overall this would be more appropriate in the Russell Weiner article.

References

^ Siegel, Joe (June 11, 2009). "Should You Boycott Rockstar?". Edge Media Network. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
^ Glover, Katherine (July 22, 2009). "Rockstar Exec, Son of Michael Savage, Disavows Homophobia". CBS News. Retrieved March 3, 2024.

What do you think? I can answer any other questions if you need! EC for Golin (talk) 22:27, 26 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've started in on this. I fixed a few problems, like dead cites, the "Criticism" section, and an unattributed quote. It does need more work, in particular it says nothing about the lawsuit or Rockstar's reversal and the $100,000 donation. So it's pretty one-sided. I'll try to get back to this in a few days. GA-RT-22 (talk) 16:42, 2 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I made some more changes. I added the threatened lawsuit and some other background. I'm inclined to leave Newsom and Janet in but the paragraph may still be too long and detailed. It's a relatively minor event since neither the lawsuit or the boycott actually happened, but it's the longest paragraph in the History section. I'd like to hear opinions from other editors. GA-RT-22 (talk) 08:35, 6 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

GA-RT-22 I have been following along with your edits and it seems like you are done, so I wanted to chime in now!

This is definitely an improvement over the previous version, your edits are much more clear and focused.

I did have a few thoughts I wanted to share for your consideration:

It looks like there is still some repetitive language here between the first sentence of this section "Rockstar was founded in 2001 by Russell Weiner, the son of right-wing radio show host Michael Savage." and one sentence later: "because the company's founder and chief executive officer, Russell Weiner, is the son of right-wing radio personality Michael Savage". For the sake of brevity, one of these should be simplified so that the same fact is not repeated twice. I would like to suggest amending the first instance, since this information is more pertinent in the second instance.

Consider changing the first sentence to simply: "Rockstar Energy was founded by Russell Weiner in 2001."

From my understanding, the boycott seems to have started not only because Weiner is founder and the son of Savage, but he was the owner at that time too. Perhaps some clarity would be beneficial there?

Consider adding to the sentence, "In 2009 a guest blogger…" something like, "During Weiner's ownership in 2009, a guest blogger…"

I am still wondering about the relevance of Gavin Newsom being here. This was a private exchange between Newsom and Weiner, so really it should be on their pages, not the company page.

I would like to re-open discussion of deleting "In May 2009, then San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom returned a $25,000 donation which Russell Weiner had made to his 2010 re-election campaign." due to WP:OFFTOPIC

I was re-reading the cited CBS article and noticed that some of the language on the Wikipedia article ("Savage has made extremely vicious comments against gay and trans people") is the same as the CBS report (...Michael Savage, a far-right radio commentator who has made extremely vicious comments against gay and trans people). Also, it seems in conflict with MOS:EDITORIAL. Should we try and summarize this more?

Consider rewriting that sentence to "Savage has a history of negative comments about LGBTQ people." or similar.

Let me know your thoughts! EC for Golin (talk) 16:07, 11 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I made a few changes. It's not actually necessary to add "prior to PepsiCo’s ownership of Rockstar Energy" or all the "then"s because this is a history section and it's implicit that the statements in it apply to that part of the company's history. I used the exact CBS language on purpose, because this is somewhat contentious and I wanted to avoid implying something that's not in the source, per MOS:EDITORIAL. I'm not convinced Newsom should be removed. I suggest you solicit opinions maybe from one of the relevant wikiprojects or at Newsom's talk page. GA-RT-22 (talk) 16:37, 11 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 11 June 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. There is a consensus to move per WP:NATURAL to Rockstar Energy. (closed by non-admin page mover) Safari Scribe^{Edits! Talk!} 03:04, 5 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Rockstar (drink) → Rockstar Energy – The current name of "Rockstar (drink)" gives the impression that this article is about the beverage and not the brand.

"Rockstar Energy" is the name of the brand specifically and what most people would recognize, as that is its common name.

Reliable news sites like CNBC and the Hill also refer to the brand as Rockstar Energy.^[1]^[2]

References

^ Eisen, Amelia Lucas, Sara (March 11, 2020). "PepsiCo to acquire energy drink maker Rockstar Energy in a $3.85 billion deal". CNBC. Retrieved March 11, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Breslin, Maureen (1 February 2022). "PepsiCo unveils hemp seed-infused drink from Rockstar Energy". The Hill. Retrieved 10 June 2025.

EC for Golin (talk) 19:44, 11 June 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. CNC (talk) 14:05, 20 June 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. CoconutOctopus talk 18:19, 27 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note: WikiProject Food and drink, WikiProject Brands, and WikiProject Food and drink/Beverages Task Force have been notified of this discussion. CNC (talk) 14:05, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Skeptical: I disagree with the suggestion that "Rockstar Energy" is "what most people would recognize". The logo just says "ROCKST★R". The label shown on the can in the article is the same, although with "ENERGY DRINK" below in smaller font and "ЯR" inside a star nearby. The can shown in The Hill article says "ROCKST★R" with "UNPLUGGED" under it in smaller font – no "Energy". "Rockstar Energy" (without "Drink") is nowhere evident (maybe it's somewhere in some small font). Many sources just refer to it as "Rockstar". Even the CNBC article cited by the proposer often just refers to "Rockstar". The "Unplugged" variant doesn't even have "Energy" on the label. It appears the company was sometimes called "Rockstar Energy", but the article is primarily about the drinks/brand, not primarily the company (or subsidiary or product line of PepsiCo or whatever it is now). The one possible value of the renaming is WP:NATURAL disambiguation. Maybe it should be "Rockstar Energy Drink", but that seems a bit verbose and overcapitalized. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 16:15, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nominator. The article is about the brand, not about the actual drink. JIP | Talk 20:57, 28 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Support. The article covers both the product line and the company. It covers history, ownership, sponsorships, and other aspects of the company—a drink cannot sponsor a music festival. I appreciate Barrel Proof's analysis but I do not find this persuasive. The Article titles and Disambiguation policies are clear that a title need not be the most common name as long as it is reasonably common and fulfills other naming criteria. Rockstar Energy is certainly natural, recognizable, precise, no less concise than Rockstar (drink), and is consistent with the article title for at least one of its rivals, Monster Energy. It's also consistent with PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company, where we often refer to these companies as simply Pepsi and Coca-Cola (Coke, even). Rockstar (drink) is over-precise since this article as about the company and multiple drinks (flavors, formulations) made by said company. It's common practice for sources to use the shorter name for a company or product more often than the full name, especially on subsequent usage after first mentioning the full. The CNBC article refers to Rockstar Energy and PepsiCo initially and then just calls them Rockstar and Pepsi. Unlike Coke and Pepsi, there's not enough content to make separate articles for the drink and the company. Rockstar Energy describes both, aligns well with article naming criteria, and avoids parenthetical disambiguation (WP:NATURAL). --MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 20:25, 4 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

[EDGE1-1] Siegel, Joe (June 11, 2009). "Should You Boycott Rockstar?". Edge Media Network. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.

[SDUT1-2] "Newsom campaign to return Rockstar CEO's donation". The San Diego Union Tribune. August 29, 2016. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.

[EDGE1-3] Siegel, Joe (June 11, 2009). "Should You Boycott Rockstar?". Edge Media Network. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.

[4] Glover, Katherine (July 22, 2009). "Rockstar Exec, Son of Michael Savage, Disavows Homophobia". CBS News. Retrieved March 3, 2024.

[:0-5] Eisen, Amelia Lucas, Sara (March 11, 2020). "PepsiCo to acquire energy drink maker Rockstar Energy in a $3.85 billion deal". CNBC. Retrieved March 11, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[Breslin_2022-6] Breslin, Maureen (1 February 2022). "PepsiCo unveils hemp seed-infused drink from Rockstar Energy". The Hill. Retrieved 10 June 2025.

[1]

[2]

[1]

[2]

[1]

[2]