Zima gets flack for alleged underage appeal

Modern Brewery Age, Feb 27, 1995

The "zomething different" about Zima has come under fire from alcohol abuse prevention advocates who contend it has caught the fancy of underage drinkers.

Critics in at least 10 states have complained to Coors Brewing Co. about the clear malt beverage, saying it has a sweet, citrus taste more like soda pop and has a slightly higher alcohol content than Coors' own original beer.

They say Zima increasingly is consumed by juveniles, and has fostered false minors in some areas that it is undetectable by police breathalyzers used to prosecute drank drivers.

"The product is clearly designed to seem different from regular beers," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. "It's enticing young people to drink alcoholic beverages, kids that otherwise might not consume alcohol.

"I think it sets a pattern of the alcoholic beverage industry constantly testing the waters with different kinds of products to see if they can find ways of expanding what has been a stagnant market."

Coors has responded to the criticism with an aggressive program emphasizing Zima is for adults only. It has sent letters to community leaders, police chiefs and school officials stating that Zima will register on breathalyzer equipment.

"There are always things kids are going to find appealing about what adults do," said Coors spokeswoman Janet Rowe. "We feel we have very effectively addressed all of the issues overall."

Zima, packaged in a long-neck clear bottle in Memphis, Tenn., splashed on the alcoholic beverage scene in September 1992, catching on in a slick, quick-moving ad campaign where words beginning with "s" were pronounced with a "z" - such as, "Zima is zomething different."

It has an alcohol content of 3.7 percent by weight, compared with Coors original beer's alcohol content of 3.6 percent by weight, Rowe said.

The beverage has become one of the most successful new products in the malt beverage industry, and has been credited for much of Coors' revenue growth and beverage volume in recent years. Last year, Coors sold about 1.3 million barrels of Zima.

Alcohol abuse prevention advocates say they began noticing increased Zima consumption among juveniles last spring.

In Montgomery County, Md., police officers reported large quantities of Zima at juvenile drinking parties, said Nancy G. Rea, program coordinator for the county's Drawing the Line on Underage Alcohol Use.

That county also is where the false rumors about the breathalyzer detection spread to the point that Rea's group made a video of a police officer getting drunk on Zima. The video showed the breath tests detected it.

"I think Zima became a problem very rapidly for something so new," she said.

Since the prevention efforts began, there has been a decrease in the number of complaints about Zima, Rea said. One factor could be that more parents have become aware that Zima is an adult beverage, she said.

Robin Wechsler of the Marin Institute, an alcohol abuse prevention group in Marin County, Calif. said she has noticed an increase in Zima use among younger college students who have been "very taken by the ads and have embraced Zima."

"The whole 'zomething different' is for a generation that's looking to define itself," Wechsler said. "It plays off that myth that something like beer won't affect you the same way wine or hard liquor will."

Inquiries to Coors about Zima peaked at about 200 in May; in the last three months of 1994, inquiries totaled about 10 a month, said Rowe.

"We feel we have very effectively addressed the issues overall," she said.

Bart Alexander, group manager of alcohol issues at Coors, said the company has financed some alcohol abuse prevention programs aimed at under-age drinkers. "We are very concerned and it is not our intent that this is a product that is consumed by youth," he said.