They taste sugary sweet, are often colorfully packaged and have between 1.2 and 10 per mille: it is precisely this combination that makes alcopos so attractive to young people – and dangerous. “The sweet taste masks the alcohol. Because the drinks also look like harmless soft drinks, young people often forget that,” says Daniela Krehl from the Bavarian Consumer Center.

To prevent this from leading to excessive consumption, alcopops have had to carry the warning since 2004: “Sale to persons under 18 years of age prohibited, Section 9 of the Youth Protection Act”. However, not all alcoholic mixed drinks are affected by this regulation. “There are exceptions that are not entirely understandable,” says Krehl. She mentions beer mixed drinks such as shandy, which do not have to have a warning printed on them, even though they often contain 2.5 percent alcohol.

Muddelmuddel for historical reasons

But mixed drinks with over 10 percent alcohol, such as vodka-lemon drinks, are also excluded from the regulation. “They don’t have to have this label,” says Krehl. That doesn’t make sense to her. Because if a vodka-lemon drink only had 3 percent alcohol, the label would be mandatory again. A quick glance could lead to confusion or misjudgment.

But why is there such a mess? According to Krehl, this is due to historical reasons. The regulation was created when alcopops came into being and became particularly attractive to young people. The exceptions came about because certain drinks were considered less attractive. “However, our observations show that these drinks are also consumed by young people and pose a risk. A warning would be useful here too,” says Daniela Krehl.