If I asked everyone in this room right now, I would guarantee that the majority of you would have heard of, or seen at your local dairy a bottle of drink that looks much like a soft dink, sometimes also seen in a can displayed as what’s known as an RTD drink or a ‘ready to drink’, drink. These are the drinks you might know as Vodka Cruises, Smirnoff Ice, Pulse, Alco Pops or a KGB. RTD drinks are too easy to drink, too strong in alcohol, too cheap and too readily available to the young.
These dinks are usually found next to the regular soft drinks or near the candy at the counter, making them very eye catching and accessible for young people. Even though these drinks are R18, they are still easily available to the youth. Dairy owners that were recently interviewed on Cambell Live, stated that the RTD drinks fly of their shelves faster than any other alcoholic beverage every week. This is because the marketing the alcohol industries have chosen is being targeted to our age
range by the use of names and eye-catching colours and logos. Young people don’t have the disposable income of adults; so being able to buy it in such small amounts at such a low price, makes RTD’s the most affordable and easily abused drink for our age range. The drink ‘Vault’ sells 4 drinks for only 9 dollars at 10 percent alcohol per drink. That is over twice the amount of alcohol in a standard beer and at almost half the price. Many people do not realize this face and are foolishly
dragged in by their marketing. The majority of the RTD drinks sell separately for around $2.50 each; which is actually cheaper than a bottle of coke. Spokesman of the ‘Alcohol Addiction Unit New Zealand’, Doug Sellman said ‘RTD’s were a deliberate strategic response by the alcohol industry to increase their profits, at the expense of our children.’ I strongly agree with this statement. Sellman also stated ‘they are too easy to drink, and it is like drinking cordial’. Because they taste
so much like...