That's Why They Card People
Snoop Dogg is promoting a new drink that is scheduled to go on sale next week. It is made by Pabst and is a fruit flavored drink. Oh, and it also has 12% alcohol. It is probably not something I will enjoy, but for testing purposes will probably have a bottle or two. You know, research. People are already complaining about the drink and are trying to get it banned because they think kids will confuse it with juice. Yeah, and tequila looks like water. Unless of course you go for the gold and then it looks like ginger ale or possibly urine and I don't see kids begging mom to have a glass of pee. Yes, I can understand why kids would go into the store and think it might be juice. So, they open up the door and bring it to the counter and then hopefully the underpaid minimum wage guy behind the counter knows it is booze and asks for i.d.
I don't see how this is any different from any other juice looking adult beverage. No one makes a big deal about any of those. I do wonder though if because Snoop is the one marketing it that people have a problem with that. I think critics should be spending their time talking about something else like how energy drinks can be bought by four year olds but no one says anything. Oh, or how they can buy junk food like pies and candy which will make them possibly obese like yours truly. Focus on those things and not something that has an age restriction. As for the argument that it is trying to get kids drinking at a younger age, there were none of these things available when I was a kid, but it did not stop me from underage drinking. Hell, I remember when there were no liquor ads on tv but it did not stop me from buying booze or at least trying to at every opportunity. What I think all these people should do is go and drink six or seven of these bottles, relax, go to a karaoke bar and sing Gin And Juice.
These drinks will be sold in low income neighborhoods, and the bottles' designs are something you would see on a kid's drink.
ReplyDeleteI never cared for Snoop Dogg or his ilk.
the choice of him as spokesperson is deliberate...they're obviously going after a specific target market. it's pabst. they've nothing to lose and much to gain. the likelihood that the drink be a hit w/in the given demographic is high, high, high. pun intended.
ReplyDeleteHell, I'd rather have my kid drink that than Red Bull. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe label is definitely aimed at kids. But the argument is a good one; being underage never stopped us either.
ReplyDeleteOh, this is ridiculous. Wine coolers have pretty, colorful labels, too, but yes, this is why we have people who i.d. before selling alcohol. People need to get over it.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a disgusting drink, btw.
And wine coolers look like Snapple bottles. The point?
ReplyDeleteSo ... marketing alcohol that may or may not be easily confused with soda is legal, you can buy liquor at corner stores, but smoking pot—which has never killed ANYONE—is still illegal? America, I do NOT understand.
ReplyDeleteWhat Miranda said.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to become the next Four Loko.
They are definitely aiming for a specific target of consumers with Snoop as their spokesman and it being a Colt 45 product. I hate the energy drinks as well, just expensive junk. I am hoping there is no caffeine in these drinks along with the 12% alcohol. That would not be good, especially with the pills that will get washed down with these. : (
ReplyDeleteI don't get how these differ from wine coolers or those disgusting Smirnoff Ice flavored vodka drinks? Besides, how could kids confuse these with juice ... since when is liquor on the same shelves as juice boxes? Like a kid goes to get Koolaid but accidentally grabs this instead? Whatever. Some people have way too much time on their hands and need to complain about everything.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I'm still doing pretty well with my Lenten swearing ban but this post was particularly hard for me to write cleanly. :/
At 12% alcohol content (24 proof), it should only be sold in liquor store, unless you live in a state that sells liquor in your stores. We don't in Alabama. So if my kid had it, he would have had it sold to him illegally at a liquor store.
ReplyDeleteI'm expecting this to be a big hit here in Chicago.
ReplyDeletei 100% agree. that's why the four loko banning shit pisses me off.
ReplyDeleteif you drink 4 of them, yeah you're probably going to get sick. but if you drink 12 beers, you're probably going to get sick too. why do i have to be denied having a cavity inducing watermelon loko because some 16 year old kids convinced their big bro to get them a case and them drank them all?
PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY. ever hear of it? yeah didn't think so.
Part of me is suspicious that it's PR
ReplyDeleteReally, the worst of part of shitty liquor like this is that young people aren't developing a taste for GOOD liquor. Oh, whisky, how I love you when you're aged well!
ReplyDeleteIf kids want to drink, they are going to find a way.
ReplyDeletewhat sunnyside said.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am guessing they are not going to be the cheapest in the store, so the kids wont go for it
Heya CDaNers!
ReplyDeleteI find this really interesting because I see this from a different viewpoint. My husband and kids and I were at a bbq last summer at my daughter's classroom Mom's house. There were lots of kindergardners and preschoolers there. Several coolers were lined up out in the back yard, most of them with juice, soda and water. There was one large cooler with beer, wine coolers, hard lemonade, etc...you get the point. I was sitting nearby and I could see the kids walk up and start opening all of the coolers, checking out what was in each one before they made a decision. Many of them were attracted to the wine coolers, and luckily none could open the twist cap and had to ask an adult for help at which point the parent would laugh and say no way. One parent, a non-drinker, didn't realize that the mike's hard lemonade was an alcoholic drink, popped off the cap. Of course about half a dozen people lept up and stopped the Dad as he was about to hand it back to his kid. Poor guy nearly had a heart attack when he realized that he almost gave his 5 year old a drink, and we all realized at that point how harmless those bottles look.
With that said, most 5 year olds can open a can without help.
Well, the bottles DO look pretty much like something marketed to kids...but I don't really think that matters. They'll be sold in the beer section, so unless the kid has a fake ID I don't really see them getting "confused" with juice.
ReplyDelete