Hard Solo to be renamed Hard Rated after regulator finds alcoholic drink had ‘evident appeal to minors’

I went out for some pool tonight and saw a "cocktail" that was hard solo and a shot of vodka for $20. Who is going to pay that. The price of alcohol is getting out of hand in the Northern Territory

So it’s a solo with two shots of vodka then
- Yeah and an empty pocket for it

I'd rename it to

NOT
F*CKING
SOLO

and see how that goes

Bundgerberg Rum and Ginger Beer companies looking nervous.

For being appealing to alcoholics?

ABAC? A quasi-governmental regulator dedicated to the labelling of alcoholic beverages... I kind of reckon this could have been rolled into a larger body.

Actually, I wonder if there are any openings... Sounds like a pretty cushy job.

It's not government related at all, it's an industry-created body, formed by members of the alcohol and beverage industry, to self-regulate their advertising material.
And yes, extremely cushy. Like the article said, it's created a voluntary code with no fines or penalties on its members, and was only spurred to action by a viral story of outrage and complaints spreading on social media. Probably mostly consists of board members who attend a few days a year and one or two employees who just press yes/approve on whatever they're sent.
"Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code had given pre-approval for Hard Solo as an appropriate product." Only to backflip quickly under actual political and media scrutiny once it's release became public knowledge.
Even it's response to one complaint's suggestion that hard solo sounds like Han solo - and therefore potentially evoked associations with stars wars in the minds of some kids - was petty.
"the packaging doesn’t appeal to minors by having “a similar name to [a] Star Wars character”. How do they know that? I myself saw Han Solo at first glance, and thought of the fairly recent Han Solo movie -with black and yellow stencil font- before re-reading it as Hard Solo.
Given they didn't detect anything wrong with mimicking a soft drink before, I don't think they have any legitimacy to arbitrarily dismiss other potential associations, especially when the colours pretty much match exactly the title schema of the Han Solo and Star Wars movies.
Anyway (I got distracted sorry), the article itself has people stating this is why industry self-regulation doesn't work, and why an actual government body with a mandatory code and penalties should be in place.
But, its much cheaper for government not to, since then government would need to fund the new body and it's employees, and spend time drawing up and debating relevant legislation and regulatory powers, whereas ABAC is funded by its member companies.
- Eh, I reckon the argument that it's enticing to children is a stretch, but I honestly don't care that much. I did a quick read through of the website before my previous post and noticed it was industry-funded, but also noticed that they have a government representative in their body, hence, 'quasi-governmental'. I don't really know enough about it to know if it's effective as a regulator despite the obvious bias.

Should I buy a can to stick on the shelf next to my jar of iSnack 2.0?

Damn. I was looking forward to seeing an absolutely wasted Solo Man in the adverts.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

When released earlier this year, the alcoholic version of the popular soft drink Solo faced backlash from politicians and health bodies.

“The recognition and familiarity of the Solo branding on the packaging creates an illusion of a smooth transition from a non-alcoholic to alcoholic beverage for minors,” Abac’s decision said.

The foundation’s chief executive, Caterina Giorgia, said Abac only changed its position after Hard Solo “received intense media scrutiny when the product drew the attention of federal Parliamentarians”.

“It should not take a viral media story for the ABAC to admit that this multinational alcohol company has breached its own scheme, which is completely voluntary and has no penalties,” she said.

One person argued the beverage would “exacerbate the current teen drinking problem we have in Australia” and another wondered what will come next: “‘Hard’ Mount Franklin?

The independent MP Kylea Tink has led a push to limit or ban alcohol marketing from reaching children and argued earlier this year the beverage had issues “from beginning to end”.

The original article contains 537 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I read alcoholic lemon as alcoholic semon. Not sure what that says about me :O

I didnt even know about this drink, sounds interesting. Has anyone tried it?

So for context, Solo is an Australian lemon-flavoured soft drink (what Americans would call "soda"). It's been around for years and is one of the more popular soft drinks, behind things like Coke and Sprite. Earlier this year they came out with "Hard Solo", which was released to a lot of media attention in Australia.
I tried it and yeah, it tastes shockingly similar to normal Solo. I've heard some people say you can't even tell it's alcoholic, which I don't really agree with myself, but it's still shockingly similar.
- I am Australian, i didnt see anything about this. Or if i did, i forgot it immediatly. Maybe i'll try find it and try it, I do like regular solo.
- to me it just tasted like -196 or brookvale union, lemon flavoured booze drinks all the same to me