Attorneys General in 27 states warned Anheuser-Busch yesterday about the promotion and sale of alcohol beverages that contain caffeine and other stimulants. The AGs expressed “serious concern” that the drinks are highly attractive to underage youth.
A letter dated May 10 said that doctors and other public health professionals have warned about the health risks of combining caffeinated energy drinks with alcohol, a popular practice among young people.
The letter singles out several alcoholic beverages made by Anheuser-Busch, including Spykes, Tilt and Bud Extra.
It said that Spykes the drink, as well as its promotions and advertising, appeared to be tailor made for young people.
The AGs cited the drinks availability in fruit and chocolate flavors, brightly colored packaging and small sized containers that could “be easily concealed in a pocket or purse.”
The letter said the Spykes Web site has no effective means of preventing underage people from entering and that its wallpapers, screensavers, instant messaging icons and ringtones were highly attractive to teenagers.
The letter went on to say that Internet ads for Spykes offered “vivid” descriptions of the flavors but no mention that the beverages contain alcohol.
“The labeling for Spykes is inadequate and the content of its advertising is irresponsible, reflecting a basic disregard for consumer safety and welfare,” the letter said.
The AGs said that Anheuser-Busch’s current marketing of it alcoholic energy drinks appears to violate the Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code.
Anheuser-Busch said it created Spykes for adults as a lower alcohol content alternative to hard liquors. The brewer said that there are more than 50 products in this category in all colors and flavors, most of which are hard-liquor beverages that have three to four times greater concentration of alcohol by volume than Spykes.
“Those who criticize Spykes fundamentally misunderstand the behavior of many illegal underage drinkers,” said Francine I. Katz, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch. “They drink for instant impact. The fact that Spykes are sold in 2-ounce bottles and have a total alcohol content equivalent to only one-third of a glass of wine makes it much less likely that illegal underage drinkers will choose Spykes as opposed to similarly colored and similarly flavored products that are 70 to 80 proof hard liquor.”
A statement from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau found that several Spykes labels violated federal law because the print was too small.
“Spykes is double trouble—alcohol and caffeine combined in large doses to create a high energy rush with the illusion of alertness when drinkers are impaired,” Blumenthal said in the statement. “With Spykes marketing and promotion, Anheuser-Busch belies the fight against underage drinking and its own public pitch to ‘drink responsibility.’”
In its statement, Anheuser-Busch called it a “double standard” that the AGs were warning it and not others like Beam Global for marketing Starbucks Coffee Liqueur and fruity drinks like After Shock and Pucker.
The AGs urged the brewer to take “prompt” action to include warnings about the risks of mixing energy drinks with alcohol, to deter concealment by underage youth and to employ effective age verification methods at its Web sites.
Some Attorneys General have communicated with Anheuser-Busch before about its marketing practices, specifically its promotions of flavored malt beverages, which the AGs said are also attractive to under age drinkers, particularly girls.
The letter was signed by Attorneys Generals Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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