We first mentioned the caffeinated alcohol drink Four Loko in a blog post last year (November 18). The super-charged drink -- especially popular among college students and other young people -- was under increasing fire late last year following multiple campus-related episodes in which large amounts of young people became so intoxicated that they slipped into unconsciousness, suffered convulsions and had to be hospitalized.
The FDA and law enforcement officials across the country stressed many attendant dangers associated with the drink, underscored by instances of drunk driving, sexual assault and public disorder.
As a result of growing public concerns -- including many state attorneys general demanding that Phusion Projects, the drink's manufacturer, take Four Loko off the market until it reconfigured its formula -- the FDA ordered that caffeine be eliminated from the beverage.
Additionally, Phusion Projects faced charges of deceptive advertising from the Federal Trade Commission, which charged that the company's claim that Four Loko contained the same amount of alcohol as two beers was wholly false.
Phusion Projects has just responded to that charge by agreeing to change its product labeling. A can of Four Loko will now reflect that the contents of its 23.5-ounce can contain alcohol equivalent to four 12-ounce beers.
Going forward, Phusion Projects will now also package Four Loko in resealable containers.
A company spokesperson said that, although Phusion Projects believes that Four Loko was not marketed deceptively, it is making the changes because "we take legal compliance very seriously."
Related Resource: Fox News, "Four Loko agrees to change labeling" Oct. 4, 2011
