Molson Coors under fire for “shameless” marketing of vitamin-fortified hard seltzer

17 Mar 2021 --- The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) are urging the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action against Molson Coors. 

The organizations argue the beer giant’s Vizzy Hard Seltzer drinks, which are fortified with vitamins and minerals, are illegally misleading the public by marketing the drinks as healthier alternatives to other alcoholic seltzers.

Advertisements have touted the drink as made “with antioxidant vitamin C from acerola superfruit” and as the “first” hard seltzer to contain vitamin C. Another advertisement distinguishes it from its competitors by stating “Yeah, but we’ve got the antioxidant vitamin C.”

Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at the CFA, tells NutritionInsight while he is unaware of any other alcoholic beverages carrying similar fortification claims, all such advertising should be banned. 

“Hawking an alcoholic beverage’s ‘healthful qualities’ is inherently misleading. Consumers should be given the information they need to make informed choices about drinking alcoholic beverages, not fuzzy marketing tactics that nudge them toward incoherent decisions, like drinking hard seltzer for the sake of getting vitamin C.” 

“Fortification claims tell the consumer that the product will deliver a given vitamin or other nutrient, and alcohol actually hinders the body’s ability to absorb nutrients.”

He moreover says that the entire “better-for-you” branding segment for alcohol products is wrong and should be stamped out. 

The Vizzy Hard Seltzer drinks launched last year after Molson Coors increased production for seltzers by 400 percent.FDA fortification policy 
In a letter to the FDA’s director of food safety and applied nutrition, the CFA and CSPI point to a 2004 report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which states that because alcoholic beverages contain almost no nutrients, they are considered “empty calories.” 

Furthermore, the letter highlights the FDA’s fortification policy, which stipulates that “food fortification should provide consumers with a reasonable benefit without contributing to nutritional imbalance in the diet.” 

Neither should food fortification mislead consumers into believing that the consumption of the fortified food per se will ensure “a complete or nutritionally sound diet,” it states. 

As a result, the FDA says unwarranted fortifications of many “random” foods and beverages could lead to deceptive and misleading claims. Fortified snack foods and carbonated drinks, for example, would consequently be inconsistent with FDA policy. 

The Vizzy Hard Seltzer drinks contain 18 mg of vitamin C per serving, equal to 20 percent of the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI). The letter asserts this is the drink’s main selling point, with references to vitamin content featuring prominently on the label. 

“In sum, because Vizzy makes claims based on the presence of nutrients added through fortification, it is misbranded,” the CFA and CSPI jointly state. 

NutritionInsight has contacted Molson Coors for comment.

Cancer warnings for alcohol
Gremillion says the CFA has seen similar branding issues in the past, which were successfully prevented. 

“There was a vodka manufacturer that tried to get authorization to include a claim that it was fortified with a supplement that protected the liver. Thankfully, government regulators at the Department of Treasury denied their request.”

The FDA should act in a similar fashion against Vizzy, he says. 

The CFA is also calling for mandatory cancer warnings on all alcoholic beverages. Gremillion says even “light” and “moderate” drinking have been tied to various cancers, including breast cancer. 

“Alcohol causes more breast cancer cases than the infamous BRCA mutation. Alcohol consumption represents the third largest modifiable risk factor contributing to cancer cases in women and the fourth largest in men, yet surveys show that fewer than half of US adults know that alcohol increases cancer risk,” he continues. 

“This disconnect between risk and public awareness is partly attributable to shameless marketing schemes like Vizzy’s, which try to create a ‘health halo’ around alcohol.”

A cancer warning label, along with enforcement of existing rules against misleading advertising, would help to bring popular perceptions of alcohol in line with the scientific evidence, concludes Gremillion. 

By Louis Gore-Langton