The Effect On Energy Drinks, Alcoholic Energy Drinks Research Paper

Alcohol, Energy Drinks, and Youth

A Dangerous Mix

Targeting Youth

To understand how alcoholic energy drinks are marketed, it is critical to examine the popularity of nonalcoholic energy drinks among youth. Teenagers and young adults are thecore consumer group for these products. Thirty-one percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 34 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds report regular consumption of energy drinks. Nonalcoholic energy drink producers promote youth consumption using “grassroots” level marketing strategies, as opposed to traditional channels (such as television, radio, magazine, and outdoor advertising). Companies are looking for “one-on-one relationships” gained through events, extreme sports sponsorships, Internet interactions, text messaging, and communication among users on Internet sites such as MySpace and Facebook. 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 drinks.

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.

Miller Brewing Company and Anheuser-Busch, the two largest U.S. brewers, are the leading producers of this new alcoholic beverage category, 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. The similarities in containers create the potential for confusion among consumers, retailers, parents, law enforcement officers, and others regarding which products contain alcohol and which do not. Alcoholic energy drinks are also a cheap alternative to purchasing alcoholic beverages and energy drinks separately. Taken together, these strategies strongly suggest that alcohol companies are marketing alcoholic energy drinks to young people.

Health Concerns

Although there is debate regarding the overall risks and benefits of energy drink and moderate caffeine consumption, health researchers agree that caffeine consumption can haveadverse health consequences, particularly at high doses. Among the most common negative effects are increased anxiety, panic attacks, increased blood pressure, increased gastric acid, bowel irritability, and insomnia.

With the rising popularity of energy drinks and with more young people ingesting high levels of caffeine, more serious health problems are now being reported in the nation’s poison centers, while reports from other countries suggest potentially serious consequences from caffeine overdose. Although the research community has not yet fully confronted the potential health risks associated with adding alcohol to energy drinks, the studies that have been done suggest serious cause for concern. Caffeine, a stimulant, masks the intoxicating effects of alcohol, which may lead to increased risk-taking. Young people are therefore particularly vulnerable to increased problems from ingesting these products, since they are more likely to take risks than adults and to suffer high rates of alcohol problems, including alcohol-related traffic accidents, violence, sexual assault, and suicide.

Introduction

Alcoholic energy drinksвЂ"prepackaged beverages that contain alcohol, caffeine, and other stimulantsвЂ"are the newest entries into the world of alcoholic beverages. Their introduction has alarmed public health and safety officials, as illustrated by the reaction to Spykes, a 12 percent alcoholic energy drink packaged in 2-ounce bottles that come in flavors such as “hot chocolate” and “spicy mango.” On May 10, 2007, 29 state attorneys general sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch, Spykes’s producer, which stated in part: “Given the documented health and safety risks of consuming alcohol in combination with caffeine or other stimulants, Anheuser-Busch’s decision to introduce and promote these alcoholic energy drinks is extremely troubling. Young people are heavy consumers of nonalcoholic energy drinks, and the manufacturers of those products explicitly target the teenage market. Promoting alcoholic beverages through the use of ingredients, packaging features, logos and marketing messages that mimic those of nonalcoholic refreshments overtly capitalizes on the youth marketing that already exists for drinks that may be legally purchased by underage consumers.”1 The uproar from not only “a majority of states’ chief law enforcement officials but also parents and leading organizations and officials in public health, education, and nutrition led to Anheuser-Busch’s decision to pull Spykes from the market.”2 Yet, despite this concession, the alcohol industry, including Anheuser-Busch, has introduced numerous other alcoholic energy drinks, is using the very marketing tactics criticized by the attorneys general, and views these drinks as having great market-growth potential.

в- How are these products marketed?

в- How are they connected to nonalcoholic energy

drinks?

в- Does combining alcohol with caffeine and other

stimulants create risks beyond those associated with

alcohol consumption alone?

в- Do these products create particular risks for young people?

Energy Drinks

Rapidly Expanding Market

The story of alcoholic energy drinks begins with the introduction and rapidly developing popularity of nonalcoholic energy drinks in the marketplace. High-caffeine soft drinks have existed in the United States since at least the 1980s beginning with Jolt Cola. “Energy drinks, which have caffeine as their primary “energy” component, began marketing as a separate beverage category in the United States in 1997 with the introduction of the Austrian import Red Bull.”3 “Energy drink consumption and sales