The True Story Behind Four Loko
August 20, 2025
29,610
1,526
302
6.17%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Taylor Lorenz Episodes Around August 20, 2025
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
33:43Now PlayingThe True Story Behind Four Loko
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelGo to and use my code TAYLOR20 at checkout for 20% off!
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON
Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏
Few beverages have left as unforgettable a mark on American culture as Four Loko. With it's original mix of alcohol and caffeine, it skyrocketed to success in the 2000s and became an iconic American brand overnight.
Four Loko was one of the first brands to ever go viral and the brand understood internet culture before the internet was even mainstream. But that virality came with a cost. The company suffered government crackdowns, a media moral panic, they changed the formula of their drink and somehow emerged from it all more relevant than ever.
When I met Four Loko CEO and cofounder Jaisen Freeman, I knew I had to talk to him for my podcast. We talk about how his scrappy college drink startup went from being nearly banned to one of the top-selling beverages in the country and how the brand has managed to transform online controversy into a business.
Follow me:
Links & Promotions
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.