Textbook case study 3.1. The Rise and Fall of Four Loko 1) Are these drinks as dangerous as the critics maintain? How much of the problem is due to the high levels of caffeine, how much is due to the labelling and marketing and how much is caused by irresponsible behaviour on the part of the young drinkers? Are companies like Joose and Four Loko being singled out for social problems that are much wider in scope, in particular, alcohol abuse by young people?
These drinks have been proven to be as dangerous as claimed because they contain caffeine, which is a stimulant hence keep you awake, while being mixed with alcohol, which is a depressant that slows down the body and brain; together this ‘tricks’ the mind into thinking that you are awake and ready for more alcohol. The cases of New Jersey students being hospitalised due to “serious alcohol poisoning” proves the real potential risks of consuming this beverage. In the case study it states that the caffeine content was boosted from 54mg to 156mg and had 12 percent alcohol, and these figures may not appear to be very high but after multiple drinks in a short amount of time it adds up and most young people simply do not acknowledge or care about these numbers. Personally, I do not think that the under-aged or young people who drink are to blame because it is common for people growing up to be curious and to experiment with things like this, however, there needs to be more work done on the education and awareness of alcohol and the potential abuse of it. The deliberate “colourful packaging” is designed to appeal to under-age drinkers which shows that it is not entirely their fault for consuming the product as it was intended to have this effect, meaning they have fallen into the trap of today’s clever marketers.
Joose and Four Loko are not the first companies to introduce caffeinated alcoholic drinks as