Anheuser-Busch in deep water over Spykes
Following consumer protest that its flavoured alcoholic beverage Spykes invites underage drinking, Anheuser-Busch decided to pull the product off the market.
Sometimes it is impossible to understand the American mind. True, to an older consumer Spykes may not have been that appealing. A drink that looks like nail varnish, is sold in nail-varnish-sized two-ounce bottles and comes in flavours like mango, lime, melon, and chocolate – is not exactly everybody’s idea of a cocktail. Even though it contains caffeine, 12 percent ABV, and Anheuser-Busch recommends it should be consumed like a shot or mixed with beer (to conceal the taste?), many people still probably did not like it.
But to claim that it was made to appeal to the under-aged? True or not, that’s a killer argument in the USA and Anheuser-Busch did right to get the stuff off the shelves. Anheuser-Busch-bashers may argue that Anheuser-Busch so willingly pulled the product, which was launched in January this year, because it was going nowhere anyway.
Be that as it may. The story shows that in the U.S, consumer concern and prevention of misuse are two things. Because even if Spykes appealed to youngsters – sorry to have to say it over and over again, there are many adult beverages that appeal to youngsters, champagne above all and possibly followed by the homemade alcoholorific Christmas eggnog – how come youngsters could have gotten hold of the product in the first place? Don’t they have to be over 21 years of age in the U.S. to purchase alcohol? Either the restrictions on alcohol purchases are too lax or parents who bought the drink thought nothing of it to give it to their children. In both cases others are to be blamed – shopkeepers, parents – but not the producer.
Interestingly, there was a new anti-alcohol argument launched in conjunction with the campaign against Spykes, namely that it entices young inexperienced consumers to drink more than what is good for them. Good grief, how are people to learn how much alcohol is good for them if not by trial and error?
Apparently, these well-meaning citizens of the anti-alcohol lobby must have been tearing out their hair in frustration that they were powerless vis à vis Red Bull, an energy drink that young consumers prefer to lace with vodka. With Spykes they saw their chances to finally win a battle.
Anheuser-Busch said Spykes’ critics “fundamentally misunderstand the behaviour of many illegal underage drinkers.”
In a statement, Anheuser-Busch’s spokeswoman Francine Katz said the alcohol content of Spykes was equal to about one-third of a glass of wine, making it a less likely choice for underage drinkers, who “drink for instant impact.”
Katz said there were also a slew of brightly coloured hard liquor products on the market, and that it makes no sense to single out one product.
We say: Right on.
