Posted June 15, 200817 yr A new alcopop-style drink billed as “A Party in Your Pocket” has hit Britain’s shops – sparking fears of a new binge drinking craze. Labour MP Sally Keeble has complained to the drinks industry watchdog over the Shotpak range. She warns that the vodka cocktails are packaged like children’s drinks and that the advertising will glamorise boozing amongst teenagers. But the company insists its message is one of responsible drinking and has vowed to fight the complaint to the watchdog, the Portman Group. The range of vodka cocktails, called Purple Hooter, Lemon Drop, Sour Apple and Kamikaze, are sold in flexible pouches – similar to soft drinks that are popular with youngsters. At £3 a pouch, the American-based Shotpak company insists the drinks are out of the price range of youngsters and aimed at the 25 to 35 age range. But Mrs Keeble last night warned that the way that the Shotpak drink was being marketed could start a new binge drinking craze that would make the controversy over alcopops look like a “minor spat”. Do You think these irresponsible drinks should be banned? Source: Sunday Express
June 16, 200817 yr I think that Alco-pops have been one of the main contributing factors to the Binge Drinking problem in this country overall tbh, it started off with Smirnoff Ice (which was okay, cos it still had a fairly sharp taste to it which would never be all that appealing to youngsters), but then it started getting progressively worse.... Alco-Pops came into being roundabout a decade ago, seems to me that the "binge drinking" culture started up at the same time.... Coincidence....? True, we always had "lager louts", but it never seemed quite as big a problem or quite as big a social blight as it does now... It perhaps would've helped had you included a picture of these things Bri, but the way the article describes them, it does sound to me like the company are being outrageously irresponsible in the way that they have packaged this... We effectively banned "sweetie cigarettes" in this country (basically, candy or chocolate sticks designed to look like ciggies, some even had the same packaging as a pack of cigs...), we stopped shops from selling cigs as "singles" to teenagers, so I think we should stop the sale of these things....
June 16, 200817 yr I can see that these could prove a problem and aid to the 'binge-drinking' situation. But the price of these are significantly higher to be classes as an item a teenager could purchase... The typical alco-pop these days, whether it be WKD, Smirnoff, VS... range from £1-£2 in the majority of shops (Obviously higher in bars). These 'pouches' start AT £3 and will no doubt increase in price and be higher in pubs and bars. It doesn't help if the packagings are designed to that similar of children's drinks, but I really don't think it's that big of a problem. Teenagers could easily get the new offer at ASDA which is 20 bottles of Stella/Fosters (Most beers) for £15... for the summer! (when teens are off!) Also, it will vary on the alchol percentage in the product, I don't know how much it is, if it's the amount of a product like 'Aftershock' then the likelyhood is teenagers wont be buying it. *Looks for pricing, pictures, and percentages*
June 16, 200817 yr Teenagers could easily get the new offer at ASDA which is 20 bottles of Stella/Fosters (Most beers) for £15... for the summer! (when teens are off!) There's been a huge crack-down in sale of booze to teenagers as far as supermarkets go however... My girlfriend is 30, every time she goes into Sainsbury or Morrisons, they ID check her.... Supermarkets are fined £20K for selling alcohol to underagers, the cashiers tend NOT to take chances these days..... I think the solution to this is rather simple - limit the sales of this stuff to pubs/clubs.....
June 16, 200817 yr http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p288/pryme2012/shotpakbanner.jpg Firstly, I can see how the products can be appealing to the younger generation...The coloured, kiddy writing of "Miz with your friends" isn't the best means of advertising either. However, the more sophisticated designs of the Whisky, Rum, Tequilla and Vodka - Str8Up - have more class and sophistication, definitly NOT appealing to the age range of less than 25 I think. The cocktail drinks - Purple hooter, Sour Apple etc: are 17% alcohol. The 'Str8Up' are 40%. Therefore, I do agree that these are looking less and less appealing to the teenager market, most teenagers couldn't handle that amount of alcohol! Still a little undecided yet... The packaging doesn't help, but I don't think its THAT much of a deal
June 16, 200817 yr There's been a huge crack-down in sale of booze to teenagers as far as supermarkets go however... My girlfriend is 30, every time she goes into Sainsbury or Morrisons, they ID check her.... Supermarkets are fined £20K for selling alcohol to underagers, the cashiers tend NOT to take chances these days..... I think the solution to this is rather simple - limit the sales of this stuff to pubs/clubs..... Yeah, really just saying how easy and cheaper it is to get alcohol. At ASDA now they have the new 'Check 25' scheme, where if you look under 25, they ask for ID. Not so easy... And yeah if it was in less pubs and bars, people will have to resort to going to supermarkets for their booze, and with this crack-down its highly likely under-agers will get served.
June 16, 200817 yr Still a little undecided yet... The packaging doesn't help, but I don't think its THAT much of a deal I have to disagree Matty... The packaging is very clearly "kiddie"-esque, designed to appeal to kids.... They DO look like soft drink packaging... After seeing this, I am 100% convinced that this company is every bit as irresponisible as these companies who used to market Chocolate "cigarettes" in actual ciggie packaging to us kids back in the day...... That got stopped, and rightly so..... This product is clearly designed to target teenagers in my eyes.... Odd, when you consider that this is an American company, I thought that most states in the US had a legal drinking age of 21..... :unsure: No, these things should NOT be sold outside pubs or clubs IMO....
June 16, 200817 yr I have to disagree Matty... The packaging is very clearly "kiddie"-esque, designed to appeal to kids.... They DO look like soft drink packaging... After seeing this, I am 100% convinced that this company is every bit as irresponisible as these companies who used to market Chocolate "cigarettes" in actual ciggie packaging to us kids back in the day...... That got stopped, and rightly so..... This product is clearly designed to target teenagers in my eyes.... Odd, when you consider that this is an American company, I thought that most states in the US had a legal drinking age of 21..... :unsure: No, these things should NOT be sold outside pubs or clubs IMO.... agree with scott here... alcopops clearly are targeting the younger members of society, so unfortunately they should be curtailed. however im sure itll make little difference as alcohol is easily available cheaply too.
June 16, 200817 yr Kind of on a similar theme- It looks like the Scottish Parliament may be about to ban the sale of any alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences to people under age 21. The 18-20s will still be allowed to drink in pubs and clubs but won't be able to buy a carry-out. Seemingly they have been running a Pilot Scheme somewhere in West Lothian for a few months where no-one under 21 can buy alcohol from shops on Fridays and Saturdays. Apparently the crime rate has dropped by about half! :o It's kind of a shame for the 18s to 20s who like some lagers while watching the football on the telly but something drastic does need to be done up here. As a country we're drinking ourselves into an early grave. :cry:
June 16, 200817 yr This is the report I was talking about. It makes real 'sobering' reading. :cry: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/displ..._UK_average.php
June 16, 200817 yr BAN THEM! speaking as a typical teenage binge drinker i find these alcopops horrid things, they taste disgusting.... the only thing vodka should go with is coke, prefferably a double..... also seeing the 15 year old chavs with bottle after bottle of sminroff ice is quite pitiful.
June 17, 200817 yr Instead of the drinks themselves what needs to be banned is the special offers in bars that encourage binge drinking like happy hours, 2 drinks for the price of 1 and other similar promotions that encourage excessive drinking, while at the same time off licences and supermarkets refusing to serve anyone under the age of 21 and a passport or driving licence only acceptable ID
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