Illinois Attorney General Calls Blast By Pabst A 'Binge In A Can,' Wants Alcohol Lowered

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is joining a chorus of state and city officials calling for Pabst Blue Ribbon to reduce the alcohol content in Blast by Colt 45, a high-alcohol malt beverage being promoted by Snoop Dog.

Madigan made the request in a letter to Pabst Thursday, according to a release from her office. She also expressed concern over the product being marketed to minors.

Officials in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Washington, and the San Francisco city attorney have all spoken out against the beverage, and some groups have accused Pabst of targeting African American youths specifically.

The Marin Institute, an alcohol watchdog group, called rapper Snoop Dogg's endorsement of the product an "obvious attempt to target urban youth."

Madigan's office said that a single 23.5 ounce container of Blast contains a 12 percent alcohol concentration, which is "equivalent to drinking an entire six-pack of typical American beer." They also said the "brightly colored cans and fruit flavors" will attract underage drinkers to the "binge-in-a-can."

"Alcohol abuse among young people is a serious and alarming epidemic," Madigan said in a statement. "A product like this only serves to glamorize alcohol abuse and promote binge drinking, threatening the safety of those consuming it."

This is not the first time Madigan has gone after the alcohol industry. In 2007 and 2008, she targeted the makers of alcoholic energy drinks and got many companies to pull their products off the shelves.

Comments

[Marcia75]

11:53 PM on 04/22/2011

What about Nighttrain??? Hello!

[Chi--townfool]

04:45 PM on 04/22/2011

But she doesn't care about stuff like MD 20/0 which is something like 15% or other candy wine....because this is the flavor of the month...what a waste of time

[Th3 5p3ctr3]

04:23 PM on 04/22/2011

Let them whine, but keep a few things in mind:

1) It is not their job, our job or anyone else's job to keep -your- children away from alcohol. The store owner is legally obliged to check ID and you as a parent are legally obliged to monitor your children. So lets can this 'marketed to minors' crap huh?

2) On the same minors issue, I don't remember anyone complaining about King 888's, Tilt, 'Crunk Juice' or any of the other fruity flavored, flashy-canned malt beverages.

3) Alcohol content too high? What about King 888 at 10%? Earthquakes at 11.5%? If I remember right, there's even a Sam Addams out there in the 9-12% range, though it's pretty expensive.

No one is forcing you to buy, let alone drink this product and your kids sobriety is -your- responsibility. So shut up already and lets focus on real issues huh?

[robodawa]

03:44 PM on 04/22/2011

Nice work, Lisa! When do you start work on the legality of the 75 year parking meter lease? For a contract shoved thru so quickly, were there not some errors in contract protocol and procedure? And No, it will never be fine with me that my parking money is going in the pockets of the princes in Abu Dhabi.

[Paul Conrad]

10:57 AM on 04/22/2011

If it were a 12% beer targeting yuppies, Madigan wouldn't be saying one word.

[Philip DeVon]

02:34 PM on 04/22/2011

hahha amen

[westbygoddoug]

08:27 AM on 04/22/2011

Meanwhile, box o' wine is still available at your local Target. Think I might pick one up after work.

[andee v]

07:48 AM on 04/22/2011

Considering some of the other high gravity lagers out there, this is stupid.

[dhodge]

06:19 AM on 04/22/2011

This is rediculous.. Someone, please name me one thing in the history of our country that has been prevented because the gov't made it illegal?.?. Drug laws don't stop ppl from getting high, traffic laws don't stop ppl from speeding, gun laws don't prevent murder, & abortion laws wouldn't stop ppl from having abortions, etc.. All laws that 'ban' particular activities do is turn otherwise honest ppl into criminals for partaking in that activity. I don't care if a kid in NY killed himself after drinking a 4-Loco; it wasn't the drink. Your suicidal son did what suicidal kids do; HE COMMITTED SUICIDE!.. Blaming the manufacturer and outlawing a substance that is used responsibly everyday by 99.9% of the ppl who use it is NOT the answer to the problem; better parenting is the answer. Pabst should be able to make & market their product however they want; it's up to parents to make sure their UNDERAGE kids aren't drinking illegally. & PBR is the best domestic, non micro-brewed lager, Period... that is all.

[lightist]

06:02 AM on 04/22/2011

Drink booze. Dont' drink booze. Drink booze. Don't drink booze. Drinnk booz. don drinl booz.

It'a all a ruse. The biggest addiction problem in America is materialism promoted relentlessly. hammered down our throats, ears, eyes, every gad dan second of every day of our whole lives. We are pathetic addicts of buying, doing, buying, buying.

Get gad dan real, people. Most Americans are filling their lives made miserable courtesy of those who don't want you to really think, really feel. We are crushed by hopeless addiction to buy to fill up our misery.

Oh, don't think it's true? I don't give a sheist pit. It is true.

[Patrick Hatcher]

04:28 AM on 04/22/2011

Sounds like just the thing to pore over your dead homies graves.

[dhodge]

06:10 AM on 04/22/2011

HA!... Awesome... besides the typo (pour), I'm nominating you for hilarious post of the day. Consider yourself fanned & faved my friend.

[libertarian83]

01:20 AM on 04/22/2011

Madigan's office said that a single 23.5 ounce container of Blast contains a 12 percent alcohol concentration, which is "equivalent to drinking an entire six-pack of typical American beer."
Typical american beer is more like 6% alcohol. So one of those is like drinking 4 beers.

That being said, they taste awful, but they're cheap.

[SpaghettyIrish]

01:00 AM on 04/22/2011

Where can I find this wonderful sounding product?

[Patrick Hatcher]

04:29 AM on 04/22/2011

Not in a good part of town I can tell you that.

[Pinkensteve]

11:55 PM on 04/21/2011

It's simply, how to make a buck off society's woe's.

[tomasino]

11:47 PM on 04/21/2011

"Madigan's office said that a single 23.5 ounce container of Blast contains a 12 percent alcohol concentration, which is "equivalent to drinking an entire six-pack of typical American beer."

We can really stretch our beer budget with Blast!

[DeathSquad]

11:43 PM on 04/21/2011

In other news: Whiskey is 55% alcohol! Binge in a bottle.