Four Loko Is Still Around, Promises To Be More Responsible About Advertising Its Drinks

It’s been a few years since we’ve really heard about Four Loko, the alcoholic malt beverage that was once highly scrutinized for mixing caffeine and booze and for allegedly marketing to minors. To be honest, outside of this halloween costume from a couple years ago, we didn’t even know the stuff was still around. But today we see that the makers of Four Loko have reached a deal with the attorneys general of 19 states and the City Attorney of San Francisco to make sure its advertising and marketing is targeted at adults.

Among the allegations made by the AGs and the SF City Attorney against Chicago-based Phusion Projects, the makers of Four Loko, were that the company promoted its products to minors; promoted “dangerous and excessive consumption” of Four Loko; and, before the company removed caffeine from its formula in 2011, “failed to disclose to consumers the effects and consequences of drinking alcoholic beverages that are combined with caffeine.”

In addition to paying $400,000, Phusion has agreed to a number of conditions aimed at making Four Loko less appealing to kids under 21.

There are the obvious ones, like not promoting the misuse of alcohol, and continuing to stay out of the caffeinated alcoholic beverage business.

Phusion has also agreed to not promote mixing Four Loko with products containing caffeine (though we’re pretty sure young drinkers don’t need anyone’s help figuring that one out). It won’t hire minors to promote alcoholic products, and it won’t hire models or actors for its promotional materials who are under the age of 25 or who appear to be under the age of 21.

The company won’t market on college property (except inside of stores that are licensed to sell alcohol), and it can’t use the “names, initials, logos, or mascots” of any school, college, university, student organization, sorority, or fraternity in its promotional materials.

“As numerous regulators and the Food and Drug Administration have rightly concluded, alcoholic energy drinks are dangerous—especially for the teenagers and young adults they target,” New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a statement. “Today’s agreement ensures that one company will no longer market a dangerous product to youth, but we must remain vigilant and continue to seek out dangerous marketing tactics and unsafe beverages that are increasingly sold in stores across the country. I thank my partners in law enforcement for their work in this case and look forward to a continued partnership to promote public health.”

In addition to New York state and the city of San Francisco, the other states represented in this settlement are: Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist