The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest today filed suit against MillerCoors Brewing Co. over its alcoholic energy drink, Sparks.
The product has more alcohol than regular beer and contains stimulants such as caffeine and guarana.
The lawsuit is asking the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to stop MillerCoors from selling the controversial drink, which is also under scrutiny from state attorneys general.
Sparks contain 6 to 7 percent alcohol by volume, as opposed to regular beer, which typically has 4 or 5 percent alcohol. Also unlike beer, Sparks' appeal to young people is enhanced by its sweet citrus taste, redolent of SweeTarts candy, and the bright color of orange soda.
In October, MillerCoors plans to release Sparks Red, which will have 8 percent alcohol by volume.
"MillerCoors is trying to hook teens and 'tweens on a dangerous drink," said CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner. "This company's behavior is reckless, predatory, and in the final analysis, likely to disgust a judge or a jury."
"Mix alcohol and stimulants with a young person's sense of invincibility and you have a recipe for disaster," said George Hacker, director of CSPI's alcohol policies project. "Sparks is a drink designed to mask feelings of drunkenness and to encourage people to keep drinking past the point at which they otherwise would have stopped. The end result is more drunk driving, more injuries and more sexual assaults."
In June, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. entered into separate agreements with CSPI and 11 state attorneys general in which the brewer agreed to take caffeine and other unapproved additives out of its two alcoholic energy drinks, Bud Extra and Tilt. Anheuser-Busch paid the 11 states $200,000 to reimburse them for the cost of the investigation and called on other brewers and distillers not to market pre-packaged caffeinated alcoholic drinks.
Lawsuit against MillerCoors targets energy drinks
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