by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Wow, the energy drink industry has a pretty sick sense of humor. First there was a drink called Cocaine. Now they’ve got a new one out called GreenCard.

It’s obviously a marketing gimmick to create controversy (and it’s working, since I’m here blogging about it), but the CEO claims that he wants the drink to give energy to those crossing the border illegally.

From Convenience Store News, via VivirLatino:

GreenCard Energy Drink, made by Z CORP, markets its energy beverage to illegal immigrants on their way to the U.S. It claims that it will give energy to those looking to cross the border and potentially outrun U.S. Border Patrol.

“It’s a fact,” that people illegally cross the border, president and CEO of Z CORP, Jeff Weiss, told CSNews Online. “If they are going to come to the U.S., I don’t want them dying in the desert, I’d rather have them hydrated.”…

The drink will have a “brand loyalty unique amongst Hispanic energy drinks,” Weiss said in a statement, but told CSNews Online that he doesn’t feel it is offensive to the group it targets.

It’s tagline: “Papers, we don’t need no stinkin’ papers” — a clear play on a famous line from the film ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.’