Australian schools ban Prime drink after teen frenzy

Australian schools have begun restricting an influencer-backed hydration drink following a surge in teenage demand that has overwhelmed retailers and raised safety concerns among educators.

Prime Hydration, launched by US social media personalities Logan Paul and KSI, sparked widespread enthusiasm after the duo visited Australia to promote their product. Footage captured from a Perth supermarket shows dozens of teenage boys storming through the doors at opening, desperate to secure bottles of the drink.

The frenzy reflects the product's growing cult status: it boasts official partnerships with the UFC and English Premier League club Arsenal, and its fanbase maintains dedicated social media accounts and apps to alert buyers when stock returns to shelves. Despite purchase limits of five bottles per customer at Woolworths, the drink has consistently sold out.

Supply has struggled to keep pace. Coles Australia announced over the weekend that it was unable to stock Prime Hydration due to supply constraints, leaving one of the nation's largest retailers unable to meet demand entirely.

But school administrators' concerns extend well beyond scarcity. Prime markets two distinct products: the hydration drink sold locally, and an energy drink variant currently unavailable in Australian stores. That energy version contains 200 milligrams of caffeine per 355-millilitre can—nearly double the limit set by Australia's food standards code for beverages marketed to the general public. The energy drink is explicitly labelled for consumers aged 18 and older.

The distinction prompted Queensland's Norris Road State School to issue a warning to parents this week. In a Facebook statement, the school said students had begun bringing Prime drinks to campus and urged families to research both versions before allowing purchases. "Students are only to be bringing water to school," the post stated, adding that the school discourages even water being consumed from Prime bottles on premises.

Norris Road is far from alone. Schools across the nation have posted similar advisory messages, signalling a coordinated concern about the drink's presence in classrooms and its particular appeal to younger audiences who may conflate the low-caffeine hydration version with the high-caffeine energy variant.

The surge underscores the outsized influence social media personalities wield over teenage consumer behaviour—and the gap between viral trends and institutional safeguards designed to protect younger users.