State attorneys general investigate energy drink companies
Posted by: in Marketing and AdvertisingFiled under: Law, Marketing and advertising, Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD)
Back in August, I wrote about the 23 say attorneys general that were taking a look at alcoholic energy drinks, concerned that consumers weren’t being warned about the dangers of mixing caffeine with beer. Studies have shown that caffeine can lead intoxicated individuals to believe that they are well enough to drive, and can also mask some of the symptoms, fooling those around them as well.
Now Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) has received subpoenas from New York, Maine, Maryland, Arizona, and Iowa while SABMiller Plc. has received subpoenas for documents from Illinois, New York, Iowa, Maine, and Maryland.
In one of the more idiotic defenses I’ve seen in a while, Anheuser-Busch released a statement saying that “If the Attorneys General truly believe that, despite the state and federal regulatory approvals, alcohol and caffeine should not be blended, then they should use their powers to persuade these authorities to regulate or ban all such beverages, not just the lower-alcohol, prepackaged ones,”
What? Isn’t that kind of like saying that the police shouldn’t crack down on people selling crystal meth because you can purchase all the products you need at the grocery store? Not that I would know … but if Anheuser-Busch is marketing a product that contains a chemical combination that’s more dangerous than the sum of the parts and consumers aren’t aware of that, it’s worth investigating.
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