A new trend lately involves adding alcohol to popular sports drinks, energy drinks, flavored waters, and other beverages.
As CBS 2’s Tara Molina reported Wednesday, an Illinois state emergency rule will stop stores from placing alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages of the same brand right next to each other – and risking marketing alcohol to children.
In the refrigerator case at your local liquor or convenience store, you’ll likely find Jack Daniel’s mixed with Coca-Cola. While the product has the Jack Daniel’s whiskey logo on it, it also has the familiar script Coca-Cola logo – and some worry it could be confused with the plain old non-alcoholic soft drink.
That why the state’s emergency rule is now in place.
The state also raised concern with an advertisement posted on a store refrigerator case reading: “Hey Mom! We’re out of… SunnyD. Pick some up!!”
If mom didn’t notice the $10.99 price tag on the ad, this could cause a problem. The ad is not for the kind of SunnyD a kid would be asking mom to pick up – it’s for a variation that is spiked with vodka.
In this case, the SunnyD Vodka Seltzer was placed between two hard seltzers in the refrigerator case. But the Illinois Liquor Control Commission says it is just one example of confusing placement of “co-branded products” that warranted action.
“In some situations, in some instances, these cobranded products have nearly identical markings as the non-alcoholic products, so it’s creating a lot of confusion in the marketplace,” said Illinois Liquor Control Commission executive director Lisa Gardner.
Gardner supplied a photo that shows other examples that could cause confusion – Topo Chico mineral water versus Topo Chico tequila and lime; Arnold Palmer Half & Half iced tea and lemonade versus Arnold Palmer Spiked Half & Half iced tea and lemonade; Jarritos soda versus Jarritos’ Canta Rios hard soda.