Group to sue Miller over novelty drinks
29.02.2008 02:00
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- Source: JS Online
An activist group plans to sue Miller Brewing Co. and Anheuser-Busch Cos. over their production and marketing of caffeinated alcohol drinks. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said Thursday that Anheuser-Busch's Bud Extra and Tilt, and Miller's Sparks, contain stimulants that are not officially approved for use in alcohol drinks. The group also accused the companies of falsely suggesting those stimulants will help combat the effects of alcohol. The nonprofit health advocacy group, based in Washington, D.C., will seek a judge's order prohibiting the companies from combining stimulants with alcohol. The center, a frequent critic of alcohol-drink makers, also will ask that the companies' profits from the drinks be diverted into a charitable fund. Federal regulators have approved the product formulations and labeling for Sparks, and Milwaukee-based Miller has marketed the beverages responsibly, said company spokesman Pete Marino. Similar statements were made by Francine Katz, a vice president at St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, who said the center's officials were "professional anti-alcohol activists" making "truly alarmist claims." Miller and Anheuser-Busch were recently served with subpoenas from a group of state attorneys general who are investigating claims that the companies improperly marketed the drinks. Federal regulations do not allow advertisements implying that such drinks have a stimulating effect. Nor do they allow marketing that suggests a drink can be consumed without feeling the effects of alcohol. Beverages such as Sparks and its companion drinks, Sparks Plus and Sparks Light, are "one of the more sinister attempts by the alcohol producers to prey on a new generation of future problem drinkers," said George Hacker, director of the center's alcohol policies project, in a statement. Hacker and other center officials cited an Anheuser-Busch Web site that describes the drinks' consumers as those "who want a drink to transition from day into evening." The group also cited magazine ads for Bud Extra that tell consumers to "go home with more than a burrito tonight," "you can go home early when you're married," and simply, "go longer." The stimulants in the drinks don't reduce the effects of alcohol, said Mary Claire O'Brien, associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. A 2007 survey of college students, conducted by O'Brien and her university colleagues, found that consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks was associated with increased binge drinking, and a significantly higher level of alcohol-related consequences, compared with drinking conventional alcohol beverages. However, the study's authors acknowledged they were limited in determining a cause and effect relationship between the drinks and increased risk taking, such as drinking and driving. The study said the relationship between drinking alcohol mixed with energy drinks, and alcohol-related consequences, may be the result of "sensation-seeking" drinkers who are drawn to such beverages, heavy alcohol consumption and risky behavior. Katz said caffeinated alcohol beverages, such as Irish coffee or rum and Coke, are nothing new. "If these activists believe that caffeinated alcohol beverages should not be sold, they should persuade the relevant regulatory authorities to outlaw them entirely," Katz said. "But so long as the beverage category itself is lawful, Anheuser-Busch may properly compete within it." Bud Extra was launched in 2004, followed by Tilt in 2005. McKenzie River Corp., a San Francisco-based beverage marketing firm, launched Sparks in 2002, and Miller bought the Sparks brands from McKenzie River in 2006. The Sparks brands make up only around 1% of Miller's sales volume of 41 million barrels. But sales of Sparks are increasing rapidly, and Miller has invested in an unconventional marketing campaign that includes a promotional partnership with air guitar champ William Ocean; giveaways of Sparks at house parties and other gatherings, and the sponsorship of events such as art shows. In July, McKenzie River agreed to pay a $200,000 fine after federal regulators found that the firm published magazine ads that implied Sparks has a stimulating or energizing effect. Those violations occurred before McKenzie River sold the Sparks brands to Miller.
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