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The Rise and Fall of Four Loko Essay

Decent Essays

Clifford Colvard
BUS-491
The Rise and Fall of Four Loko 1. All beverages are dangerous when consumed in large quantities. In the late eighties and early nineties, a beverage named Cisco came under scrutiny when many individuals succumbed to alcohol poisoning after imbibing the fruity alcoholic beverage. It was packaged in a fashion that some claimed to look like wine coolers. Nonetheless, the Canandaigua Wine Company, the manufacturer of Cisco, settled with the Federal Trade Commission to change the shape and color of the bottle and give a strong reference that Cisco is not a single serve beverage (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/predawn/F93/cisco.txt). This is a situation where Caveat Emptor is appropriate. Manufacturers often mimic …show more content…

supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart” (http://www.bevindustry.com/articles/84825-energy-drink-sales-get-a-jolt). 3. Along with butting in the lives of those who wish to marry goats, banning Four Loko and its kindred is legal paternalism 4. Clearer packaging or a warning label similar to cigarettes should be implemented before banning such products. If the FTC and FDA could find some consistency in their application of policies, it would help the business world tremendously. Even some consumers have switched to Joose, a drink similar to the original Four Loko: "Once we only had the energy-free version in stock, many customers turned to products such as Joose, which still had caffeine in it," Wingate said. "That lasted as a substitute until we ran out of those, since Joose is no longer made at all” (http://www.thelantern.com/mobile/campus/new-four-loko-drink-a-no-go-for-some-1.2740426). An agreement similar to the one the FTC made with the Canandaigua Wine Company would have been sufficient. 5. The FDA acted too quickly; it succumbed to the pressure exerted by Senator Chuck Schumer, who serves on many Congressional committees: * Committee on Rules and Administration, Chairman * Senate Judiciary Committee i. Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, Chair ii.

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