Four Loko Faces New Marketing Limits

Phusion Projects LLC, the makers of the flavored malt liquor Four Loko has just agreed to a series of reforms that will limit the sale and marketing campaigns of the infamous soda-like alcoholic beverage.

These new restrictions and policy reforms, agreed upon between 20 U.S. state attorneys general and the city of San Francisco , are being enacted in the interest of resolving allegations that Phusion Projects was improperly marketing Four Loko in a manner that encouraged alcohol abuse and made it attractive to young people, according to a Reuters report.

The limits reportedly bans the sale of flavored malt beverages such as the new Four Loko on college school or college grounds except by licensed retailers with special permissions. The company also agreed not to no longer use models or actors under the age of 21 in advertising, for fear that they will appear to viewers as under 21 years old.

Phusion also paid $400,000 to state and federal regulators as part of a settlement resulting from infractions on public safety policy that endangered numerous college undergraduates and high school students back in 2010.

The current Four Loko product is not the same malt beverage sold four years ago. Back in 2010, Four Loko and a series of other less well-known alcoholic beverages contained alarming levels of caffeine and other stimulants commonly found in energy drinks.

After numerous reports of a spike in incidents of alcohol poisoning among minors on college campuses swept across the country, university officials and state legislators alike urged students to avoid the drinks. Some states even banned the sale of Four products alongside three other caffeine-laced alcoholic beverages. Several stores including ShopRite, Wegmans, and Price Chipper even voluntarily pulled the products from their shelves, especially in college towns, according to their respective company press releases.

On November 17, 2010 the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Phusion Projects LCC and three other manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages citing that stimulants in an alcoholic beverage was an "unsafe food additive."

In response to this, Phusion removed caffeine and gaurana from the Four Loko product. However, the products cans and advertising campaigns, which arguably were aimed at a young and underage demographic, remained unchanged.

These latest reforms are likely to change how the product continues to advertise itself. The sale of alcoholic beverages lace with caffeine  -- which have been found to cause rapid and dangerous blackouts in binge drinkers -- has also been effectively banned.