French wine cocktail brand Icetropez recently faced online backlash for introducing alcohol-free drinks intended for pregnant women and children.
According to the Icetropez hub, this cocktail with fruity and sweet notes, originated in French Rivera, where since 2009 people have been able to enjoy non-alcoholic beverages.
Despite introducing these 0% drinks, the drinking company has received backlash for saying that these drinks can be consumed by children, old people and pregnant women.
In their recent campaign, many X (formerly known as Twitter) users felt that it was distasteful to encourage drinking amongst these groups even though it didn’t have any alcohol, as its initial introduction into the market was as an alcoholic beverage, not a juice.
According to Happiest Baby, consuming non-alcoholic drinks is safe, adding that, the beverage needed to contain 0,5% alcohol or less.
The above-mentioned source stated that according to a report made by the Canadian Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, “Nearly 30% of 45 “no or low alcohol” drinks they have examined contained more alcohol than labelled, as six had more than 1% ABV (meaning that you were drinking more alcohol than you thought.)”
According to reports from the Frontiers organisation, South Africa has one of the highest per capita rates of alcohol consumption in the world. It is also noted that 13.2% of cases related to maternal alcohol use during pregnancy have been reported in the country, meaning that it didn’t make sense for the brand to advertise this to children as sometimes they can’t tell the difference between alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks.
Since the announcement of these 0% drinks many X users have taken to the platform to share their thoughts on this initiative.
One user commented:
Oh No why would you advertise an alcoholic brand to pregnant woman ??
Encouraging kids to try it as well…
Yes its 0% percent but I can’t be the only one who finds this strange #icetropez #IceTropez #girltalk pic.twitter.com/vOqhapfUZ5— SingleMomsZA (@moms_za) December 3, 2024
Other users said:
icetropez introducing new flavours for the kids:pic.twitter.com/rhYWFVhVPE https://t.co/z8skQA7Qxx
— zak (@zakareeee) December 3, 2024
This IceTropez situation is not funny in the slightest, the political and financial sway these businesses have in South Africa is dangerous, you can’t be marketing a alcohol brand to minors, we all know the non alcoholic drink is just a pipeline product, it’s fucking sickening.
— Julile Khumalo (@lile_is_love) December 3, 2024
When you give your baby a juice box instead of icetropez https://t.co/pJjCdRGvr4 pic.twitter.com/b4nyTa9Wdu
— gretchen ?? (@marthafocker_) December 3, 2024
Also see: Give the gift of love and comfort with BONA’s Christmas shopping guide
