You may remember those days of yore when Four Loko hit liquor shelves and changed binge drinking, at least for a short while. Or you may not, and for good reason – Four Loko was a caffeinated malt liquor drink with an alcohol content more potent than many standard beers. Attorney General Martha Coakley and her constituents announced today that Phusion Products, LLC has agreed to a $400,000 multi-state settlement for violations related to Four Loko and similar.
Attorney General Coakley’s office alleges that Phusion marketed its boozy beverage to underage consumers, promoted binge drinking and failed to disclose the effects of drinking Phusions’s products.
BostInno reached out to the Attorney General’s office and obtained court documents that allege Phusion directly violated Massachusetts General Law Chapter 93 A §2, which essentially cites a set of regulations enacted by the Fair Trade Commission as interpreted by the AG.
“Binge drinking and underage drinking are public health concerns, and it is essential that companies market their products responsibly, particularly when they are selling alcoholic products that may appeal to minors,” AG Coakley said in a statement. “We are pleased that the company will improve the marketing and promotion of its flavored malt beverages to prevent dangerous drinking behaviors.”
AG Coakley and her 19 fellow Attorney Generals entered an assurance of discontinuance with Phusion, barring the drink manufacturer from taking a number of actions including:
- Promoting the misuse of alcohol;
- Promoting the mixing of flavored malt beverages with products containing caffeine;
- Manufacturing, marketing, selling or distributing any caffeinated alcoholic beverages;
- Providing to wholesalers, distributers, or retailers any promotional materials for caffeinated alcohol beverages or materials that promote mixing flavored malt beverages with products containing caffeine.
- Selling, offering for sale, distributing or promoting alcoholic products to underage persons;
- Hiring underage persons to promote alcoholic products;
- Hiring models or actors for its promotional materials that are under the age of 25 or that appear to be under the age of 21;
- Promoting flavored malt beverages on school or college property, except at retail establishments licensed to sell alcoholic products;
- Using names, initials, logos, or mascots of any school, college, university, student organization, sorority, or fraternity in Phusion’s promotional materials for its alcohol products; or
- Distributing, selling, providing or promoting merchandise bearing the brand name or logo of flavored malt beverages to underage persons.
The court documents note that Phusion continues to deny the allegations brought forth against the coalition of AGs, though, it’s likely they entered into the settlement on the basis that they’d lose more in court.
In November 2010, notes Coakley’s office, the FDA dispatched a letter warning Phusion that Four Loko is an unsafe product due to its caffeination. Subsequently, Phusion discontinued making caffeinated alcoholic beverages like Four Loko and removed such caffeinated drinks from store shelves. Phusion later reintroduced the malt beverage without caffeine and other ingredients.
The plaintiffs used a number of photographs and tag lines as evidence that Four Loko was being marketed to underage individuals and as a means of binge drinking. One photo showed a person double-fisting the 23.5 oz cans, another alluded to the fact that one can was a single serving – which it isn’t. The rest depicted obvious intoxications, one of which stated that the person holding the can was 17-years old.
The other states that joined the settlement include Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington, along with the City Attorney of San Francisco.
