I’m fired up. Last summer I shared a post on Facebook about shady messaging on a hard seltzer can at a BBQ. You can read the full post here, but I’ll give you the gist. I found a seltzer in the cooler of drinks and only with extra diligence did I spot that it was “hard” seltzer so I passed and grabbed a bottle of water out of the same cooler. Later I spotted a teenager drinking the hard seltzer and I wondered if he actually realized what he’s consuming.
People who started drinking before age 15 are 50% more likely to become alcohol dependent as adults (source: NIAAA). To see this young man drinking this same drink that almost tricked me felt especially worrisome.
But wait, there’s more and this is why I’m pissed. Someone shared with me how this same beverage company labels drinks without alcohol and it’s very prominent. “Non-Alcoholic” is at the very top and about 5x the size of the font of the hard seltzer label.
What. The. Eff.
Why would a drink without alcohol merit big bold letters front and center but a drink with alcohol flies under the radar?
Why isn’t better labelling required on alcohol? Is it because the sooner the alcohol industry can hook someone the bigger their profits? Do they see a 15 year old and think “gold mine?”
This recent realization sent me down a rabbit hole. What are the rules around labels on drinks with alcohol? Is it legal to bury the ABV in tiny print at the bottom or back of the can?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Sober Mom Challenge to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.