Alcopops ruse is a bit thick

The launch of Thickhead, which Marketing Week covered in some depth (September 6) has been greeted with the usual media hysteria about kids gaining alcohol problems.

Thinking back to my own teenage years, I remember drinking cider and sweet vermouth with lots of mixer which, essentially, is the same thing as alcopops. An attractive bottle or can might catch the eye but if the young person is intent on purchasing alcohol I really don’t see that it makes a difference whether they buy the alcopop or something else.

Whatever happened to the idea that shopkeepers are in a position of responsibility and ought to challenge underage customers? Surely, unless purchasing regulations are properly enforced at point of sale, there is little point in banging on about the evils of alcopops ad

infinitum.

Underage drinking is not going to go away and using alcopops as a scapegoat is hardly addressing the issue as a whole.

Andrew Brown

St Albans

Herts