Alcohol, Energy Drinks, and Youth: A Dangerous Mix

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Alcohol, Energy Drinks, and YouthA Dangerous
Mix
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What is an alcoholicenergy drink?

• Prepackaged beverages that contain alcohol,
  caffeine, and other stimulantslike ginseng

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Alcohol Content

• How much alcohol do these products contain?
• The alcohol content varies from
• 6.0- 9.9 per can
• How does this compare to regular beer?
• Alcoholic energy drinks contain more
• alcohol than a can of beer.
• Budweiser 4.82
• Miller High Life 4.78
• Corona 4.84

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Targeting Youth

• Alcoholic energy drink producers have built on
  the popularity of nonalcoholic energy drinks in
  two ways
• 1) promoting the mixing of energy drink
  products with alcohol
• 2) marketing premixed alcoholic
  energy drink
• Efforts to encourage the mixing of alcohol with
  energy drinks serve as a stepping stone to
  building a separate beverage category of premixed
  alcoholic energy drinks.

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Cyberspace

• Product websites show party scenes with
  teenagers drinking alcoholic energy drinks
• Explicit sexual imagery or messages often
  included, suggesting the products can lead to
  sexual success for males, particularly in party
  situations.
• Teens have pictures posted on www.myspace.com
  drinking alcoholic energy drinks and videos on
  YouTube.com creating street credibility
• Which meansfree marketing

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Manufacturersof new alcoholic beverage category

• The leading producers are Miller Brewing Company
  and Anheuser-Busch with brands that include
  Sparks, Tilt, and Bud Extra.
• Their marketing tactics mirror those used for
  nonalcoholic energy drinks
• grassroots consumer strategies
• images and messages that promote their
  association with partying and other high energy
  activities and
• containers that have sizes, shapes, and graphics
  similar to their nonalcoholic cousins.

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Similarities Create Confusion

• Alcoholic energy drinks look similar to
  non-alcoholic energy drinks.
• The potential for confusion among consumers,
  retailers, parents, law enforcement officers, and
  others regarding which products contain alcohol
  and which do not.

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Cost

• Alcoholic energy drinks are a cheap alternative
  to purchasing alcoholic beverages and energy
  drinks separately. For example
• Alcoholic Non-Alcoholic
• Sparks or Tilt Monster or Rockstar
• 1.49-1.59 1.99-2.49
• These strategies strongly suggest that alcohol
  companies are marketing alcoholic energy drinks
  to young people.

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Health Concerns

• Caffeine, a stimulant, masks the intoxicating
  effects of alcohol
• May lead to increased risk-taking
• May increase alcohol-related traffic accidents
• May increase risks for violence, sexual assault,
  and suicide.

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What can you do?

• Write letters to your representatives to ban
  alcoholic energy drinks
• Spread the word to other adults involved with
  youth
• Ask local convenience stores to remove the
  products from their shelves
• Check the label. Energy drinks are required to
  have nutritional content listed, alcoholic energy
  drinks are not