ALCOHOLIC POP AND LEMONADE HIT U.S.
By Adnews Staff
Alcoholic lemonade, colas and orange drinks have come to the U.S. The drinks have been in Britain since last summer and are currently being test marketed in Miami and San Diego. The drinks are marketed by British brewer Bass PLC under the name Hooper's Hooch. Thornlodge Inc. of Britain is negotiating with an American brewer for U.S. distribution of Mr. Pucker's, a fruit flavored alcoholic soda developed by a former Anheuser-Busch Cos. executive. Anti-alcohol groups say the drinks blatantly appeal to teens because they are based on the colas and fruit flavored soft drinks favored by kids. Bass has bowed slightly to the pressure by calling its drink alcoholic lemon instead of alcoholic lemonade, the name "lemon" being presumably less attractive to teenagers. Britain's Advertising Standards Authority banned a series of ads for Hooper's Hooch featuring a mischievous cartoon lemon. Thornlodge, the maker of Mrs Pucker's, says the alcoholic sodas are new age adult beverages for people who now try to mask the taste of gin, vodka and rum with soft drinks.