\n<\/p>\n
Alcohol charities have criticised a new 99p shot from the company behind BuzzBallz, warning its cheap price and heavy marketing are designed \u201cto appeal to children\u201d.<\/p>\n
BuzzBallz, the brightly coloured ready-to-drink cocktails sold in spherical containers, have become popular with younger drinkers and on social media in recent years, particularly on TikTok where users post tasting videos and cocktail hacks featuring the brand.<\/p>\n
The new product is being pitched as a nostalgia buy, with the company behind it rolling out an ice-cream van called the 99 Liquor Whip, serving the shots at university campuses this month , offering \u201cunapologetically fun flavour experiences\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jem Roberts, head of external affairs at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said the launch \u201clooks like a product entirely designed to appeal to children while hiding behind a thin \u2018nostalgia\u2019 label\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cSweet flavours, TikTok-style branding, and even an ice-cream van, it\u2019s hardly subtle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know two of the biggest drivers of alcohol harm are cheap prices and heavy marketing. A 99p shot promoted as fun and shareable combines both. And while youth drinking has declined, the UK still has some of the highest levels of heavy episodic drinking among young people in Europe, so this is not a problem we\u2019ve solved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts called for better regulation, noting that while alcohol industry rules state products should not particularly appeal to children, \u201cexamples like this keep appearing\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/span>A BuzzBallz giant gacha machine pop-up in London, where visitors can win items from a dispensing prize machine. <\/span> Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy Stock Photo\/Alamy Live News.<\/p>\n Joe Marley, executive director at Alcohol Change UK, said: \u201cAlcohol companies constantly find new and innovative ways to make alcohol seem essential to having a good time and encourage us to drink and drink more alcohol. In this case, the group behind BuzzBallz and Fireball Whisky\u2019s blatant tactics to promote its new range will first reach students on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n Marley said that \u201cthis group has a track record of going further than others when creating and marketing strong alcohol that tastes like sweets for pocket money prices, using playful approaches, bright colours and cultural trends to embed alcohol in young people\u2019s lives\u201d.<\/p>\n Marley expressed concern around possibly off campus adverts too with \u201ccolourful advertisements in high footfall public spaces such as bus stops and high streets\u201d that risk appealing to children and young people.<\/p>\n \u201cEvidence is clear that price, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis, paired with clever and unapologetic marketing has a big effect on drinking habits while shaping attitudes toward and normalising alcohol. As a society, we need to create an environment that protects all of us, especially children and young people, from constant efforts to encourage drinking, with proper controls and sensible limits on how alcohol can be marketed,\u201d Marley said.<\/p>\n The Sazerac brand, who manufacture the drink, said it takes \u201cconcerns around underage drinking seriously, which is why all activity is governed by strict UK alcohol marketing, retail and age-verification standards\u201d. It said: \u201cPrice alone does not determine whether a product appeals to minors; responsible marketing, clear adult targeting, and robust retail compliance are the critical factors.\u201d<\/p>\n It said its new product has been designed \u201cas a clearly adult-only alcohol activation, centred around flavoured spirit shots, nightlife occasions and legal-age consumers. More broadly, the creative approach reflects well-established nostalgia trends commonly used to engage adult consumers, particularly those of legal drinking age who identify with 90s and early-2000s culture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alcohol charities have criticised a new 99p shot from the company behind BuzzBallz, warning its cheap price and heavy marketing are designed \u201cto appeal to children\u201d. BuzzBallz, the brightly coloured ready-to-drink cocktails sold in spherical containers, have become popular with younger drinkers and on social media in recent years, particularly on TikTok where users post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[24591,979,713,24592,983,166,9165,8041,1952],"class_list":{"0":"post-49705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-99p","9":"tag-alcohol","10":"tag-appeal","11":"tag-buzzballz","12":"tag-charities","13":"tag-children","14":"tag-designed","15":"tag-shot","16":"tag-warn"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}