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Disney Soon To Discontinue Frozen-Themed Champagne Style Non-Alcoholic Drink from UK Stores

by Shirley Johanna on Dec 29 2015 6:48 PM

Disney Soon To Discontinue Frozen-Themed Champagne Style Non-Alcoholic Drink from UK Stores
A frozen-themed non-alcoholic drink for children, which is sold in a champagne-style bottle is to be discontinued after alcohol awareness campaigners in the UK said that the product could encourage underage drinking among young children.
Currently, the drink is on sale in UK discount store Home Bargains. It is described as a “grown-up alternative to juice and pop at parties” aimed at “little princes and princesses across the land who want to be more sophisticated” on the retailer’s website.

Alcohol awareness groups expressed concerns that the product could normalize alcohol consumption, which could make children want to experiment with alcohol.

“Too often alcohol is sold as if it was a normal commodity and alcohol-like products are used to entice people into the world of alcohol,” Jackie Ballard, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern told Mashable.

"This is particularly worrying when products are aimed at children, who we believe should be entitled to an alcohol-free childhood, away from the marketing pressures faced daily by adults."

"The Chief Medical Officer recommends an alcohol-free childhood for good reason,” Dr Sarah Jarvis, medical adviser to alcohol education charity Drinkaware, said in a statement.

"Young people’s bodies are still developing and their brains may be more susceptible to the effects of alcohol than those of adults, even at levels within the government’s recommended upper limits for adults," Dr Jarvis continued.

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A spokesperson for Disney said in a statement, “We have recently been made aware of the Vitpress Disney Frozen Non-Alcoholic Party Drink, a licensed product that originates in Poland."

"As we set very high standards for the quality of products bearing the Disney name and characters, we have informed the manufacturer that we will no longer license Disney images to a product that is packaged to look like alcohol."

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The Disney spokesperson announced that the product will no longer be produced from April 2016 and that measures were being put in place to ensure that this does not happen again.

Operations director Joe Morris said, "We are committed to ensuring that our alcoholic products are not sold to underage drinkers. All staff members are trained to request ID from any customer attempting to buy alcohol that looks under the age of 21."

Source-Medindia


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