Tap Runs Dry For MillersCoors’ Sparks
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- December
- 18
MillerCoors today agreed to stop selling the alcoholic energy drink, Sparks, and other caffeinated alcohol beverages in an agreement with New York and other states, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced.
The deal with MillerCoors comes after Cuomo and 12 other attorneys general reached a similar agreement in July with Anheuser-Busch to stop selling and marketing its caffeinated alcohol drinks, particularly to youth.
“Drinks like Sparks encourage the polar opposite of responsible drinking habits,” Cuomo said. “Besides being aggressively marketed to a younger crowd, they are fundamentally dangerous and put drinkers of all ages at risk.”
MillerCoors’ Sparks products included Sparks Original, Sparks Light, Sparks Plus and an unreleased higher alcohol product called Sparks Red.
“As a responsible company, we are always willing to listen to societal partners and consider changes to our business to reinforce our commitment to alcohol responsibility,” Tom Long, president of MillerCoors, said in a statement. “These changes will allow MillerCoors to continue to market and sell Sparks to legal drinking age consumers.”
The investigation focused on what attorneys general said were “false and misleading health-related statements” about the energizing effects of Sparks and marketing efforts that were allegedly focused on underage drinkers.
MillerCoors, Cuomo said, has agreed to stop using images that suggest the drinks produce energy or power and from using themes that appeal to underage drinkers—including not renewing a contract with air-guitar champion William Ocean, who opens his shows by doing a back flip on an opened can of Sparks.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 11:28 am by Joseph Spector.
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