Companies are prohibited from advertising energy drinks to children under 12; however, all have their own social media channels and aggressive marketing, through music, sports, influencers and celebrities, is “the heart of the problem,” said EU MP and Croatian physician Biljana Bozan. One University of Ottawa-led study found that a significant number of posts feature “teen themes” like extreme sports; nearly 10 per cent of X posts contained “child-appealing” themes. Overall, between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, there were 222,119 user-generated or company-generated mentions of energy drink products that reached an estimated total of 351,707,901 users across platforms, the research team reported.