Business & Tech

Attorney General Throws a Red Light at the Blue Ribbon

Attorney General George Jepsen joins other attorneys general in calling Pabst's new drink a "binge in a can."

Attorney General George Jepsen has fired a major shot at Colt 45 and its parent company for marketing a new canned and bottled beverage with a high alcohol content.

Jepsen on Thursday joined with attorneys general of 15 other states, the attorney general of Guam and the San Francisco city attorney in questioning the necessity of “Blast” by Colt 45, a new fruit-flavored alcoholic beverage introduced by the Pabst Brewing Co. earlier this month.

Blast is being sold in a variety of fruit flavors and brightly colored, 23.5-ounce cans making it appealing to younger drinkers, Jepsen said in a news release Thursday.

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He said that, with an alcohol concentration of 12 percent by volume, a 23.5-ounce can of Blast contains the equivalent of 4.7 servings of alcohol. Drinking one can in less than two hours would qualify as binge drinking under public health standards, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently declared binge drinking to be "a major public health problem in the United States," Jepsen said, while adding that the CDC calculates that binge-drinkers account for more than half of the 79,000 annual alcohol-related deaths in the country.

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“The health risks pose a particular threat to youth, given that about 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by Americans under age 21 is while binge drinking,” Jepsen said in the release. “A product that makes it easier for young people to drink to excess, particularly a high-alcohol, binge-in-a-can product like Pabst Blast, does not encourage responsible drinking."

In a letter to Pabst, the attorneys general urged the company to significantly reduce the amount of alcohol in the single-serving container to eliminate the serious public safety risks posed by the product.

“Despite the company’s admonition to purchasers to drink responsibly, the product’s design promotes excessive consumption,” the attorneys general wrote.
They also urged the company to ensure that its marketing does not target an audience that is below the legal drinking age. The company has hired hip-hop/rap artist Snoop Dogg as a spokesman and promotional videos are running on social media sites.

The release of the letter by Jepsen came as Spring Weekend was beginning at the University of Connecticut.

 


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