Red Stripe Slammed Over New Fruity Beer

Jamaican beer maker Red Stripe's latest concoction is a fruity beer whose goal, according to the company, is "recruitment-driven": The company is hoping to win over 18- to 24-year-olds (18-year-olds can legally drink in Jamaica, Jezebel notes). Activist group Alcohol Justice wants to keep the raspberry-flavored Burst from hitting the US. In the Jamaica Gleaner, a Red Stripe rep says Burst "definitely has appeal for both genders," noting hope that it will be a "crossover" product. That, Alcohol Justice says, likely means the company has tested the product—which features red and pink labels—with young women.

Such "alcopops," the group says, "were designed as 'cocktails on training wheels,' sweet and fruity, to lure underage youth into unhealthy drinking behaviors, especially underage girls." Red Stripe parent Diageo, which also makes Smirnoff Ice, is "leading the charge in a race to the bottom of the alcopop barrel to endanger youth." (More Red Stripe stories.)