Coca-Cola’s New Alcoholic Beverage: Blurring the Lines Between Soft Drinks and Risk

Coca-Cola and Bacardi’s recent announcement to launch a ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic product in 2025 is deeply concerning, especially in terms of its implications for young people. The combination of Coca-Cola’s global brand recognition and Bacardi’s alcoholic products creates a dangerous marketing cocktail, likely to appeal to younger audiences. Ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, often sweet and easy to consume, lower the barrier to alcohol use among youth and increase the risk of harmful drinking behaviours.

The convenience and appeal of RTD alcohol products, often packaged to resemble non-alcoholic beverages, make them accessible and tempting to young people. Youth are more likely to consume these kinds of products due to their taste and convenience, which can mask the strength of the alcohol content. This not only increases the likelihood of underage drinking but also of high-risk consumption, leading to higher risks of alcohol harm.

What makes this move especially harmful is Coca-Cola’s involvement. As a brand trusted by families and associated with non-alcoholic beverages, Coca-Cola’s foray into the alcohol market blurs the lines between safe, everyday products and harmful ones. This crossover into alcohol marketing could normalise alcohol consumption for younger audiences, leveraging the global reach and familiarity of Coca-Cola to promote a product with significant risks.

Promotion, or any marketing strategies, is Big Alcohol’s activity to drive alcohol availability and acceptability, to perpetuate the alcohol norm, and to place alcohol at the center of people’s thoughts and preferences, communities’ practices, and societies’ customs. The focus of this DUBIOUS FIVE strategy is the people and their beliefs about alcohol products, the public and their attitudes about and behavior around alcohol products, and the consumers and how much, how often they buy and consume alcohol brands.

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