Alcoholic Energy Drink Marketing Under Investigation

A group of several state attorneys general has subpoenaed internal documents from Anheuser-Busch and Miller related to their marketing of alcoholic energy drinks.

The group, which among others includes attorneys general from Maine, Maryland, Iowa, Arizona and New York, first challenged these products when they wrote a letter to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau – the people who approve the labels on these products – asking it to investigate misleading marketing claims made by products such as Miller’s Sparks and A-B’s Bud Extra.

Pushing for More Taxes

The attorneys general singled out these two brands, as well as a third brand called Charge Beverages, for having “taken advantage of youth appeal by engaging in aggressive marketing campaigns… [that] claim that such beverages increase a person’s stamina or energy level. However, they do not mention the potentially severe, adverse consequences of mixing caffeine with alcohol.”

They also asked that the bureau investigate whether these beverages ought to be taxed as distilled spirits, instead of as malt-beverages like they currently are. Such a classification would have lead to the cost of these products greatly increasing in most states. However, the bureau found that they were taxed correctly.

Drink Makers Say They Are Not to Blame

The caffeinated alcoholic beverage market was alive well before Bud Extra and Sparks came to the market: just think about the Vodka Red Bull or the Rum and Coke, staples of this cocktail category.  A-B responded to the subpoenas by saying, “If the attorneys general truly believe that – despite the state and federal regulatory approvals – alcohol and caffeine should not be mixed, they should use their powers to persuade these authorities to regulate or ban all such beverages, not just the lower-alcohol, prepackaged ones.”

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