Playboy Energy Drink Signals Another Brand Reinvention

From lifestyle icon to licensed beverage, Playboy bets on energy drinks to reach Gen Z

Playboy is making its latest bid for relevance not through magazines or media, but through a can. In partnership with Fire Brands, the company is launching Playboy Energy Drink, a new energy beverage line aimed at Gen Z consumers and lifestyle-driven branding. The move highlights how the once-dominant Playboy brand is now leaning heavily on licensing and logo recognition as it searches for a footing in a modern, hyper-competitive marketplace.

Playboy Energy Drink is positioned as both functional and fashionable. Each can delivers 200 mg of caffeine, a Vitamin B-Complex, L-Carnitine, and just 30 calories per serving. The product leans into bold design and pop-forward aesthetics, clearly targeting younger consumers who value image, performance, and social-ready packaging as much as what is inside the can.

The launch features five lightly sparkling flavors designed to feel playful and provocative: Sexy Peaches (peach mango), Razz Bunny (blue raspberry), Lovely Melons (watermelon), Naughty Berry (wild berry), and Tropic Passion (pineapple). While the flavor profiles align with current energy drink trends, the real selling point remains the globally recognized bunny logo, which continues to carry far more weight than the brand’s recent business results.

That reliance on branding speaks volumes about the current state of Playboy. Once a cultural juggernaut spanning media, fashion, and nightlife, the company is now a shadow of its former self. For many consumers, recent encounters with the brand have been less about glamour and more about novelty merchandise, including low-cost accessories that signal how diluted the brand has become.

The publicly traded parent company, Playboy, Inc., formerly known as PLBY Group, has faced severe financial and strategic challenges. Its stock price has fallen nearly 99 percent from its peak in March 2021. The company carries substantial debt and has reported heavy losses, managing only slight cash flow positivity after servicing that debt.

Playboy’s troubles have been compounded by a series of failed strategies. The company overpaid for acquisitions such as Lovers and Yandy, only to sell them off at a fraction of their purchase prices. It also poured money into short-lived ventures involving crypto and NFTs, producing little return. Over time, Playboy has pivoted repeatedly, shifting from a media business to consumer goods, then to licensing, and most recently to a capital-light licensing model in an effort to cut costs and stabilize operations.

Competition has only made survival harder. Current Playboy ventures like Honey Birdette and the Centerfold platform struggle to compete against fast-fashion powerhouses like Shein and creator-driven ecosystems such as Instagram and OnlyFans, where cultural relevance moves faster than legacy brands can adapt.

Playboy Energy Drink is set to roll out later this year through specialty retailers, small and large format stores, select hospitality venues, and Amazon.com. Whether this latest product can do more than temporarily monetize the bunny logo remains to be seen, but it clearly illustrates where Playboy stands today: a famous name still searching for a sustainable identity in a very different era.