A survey by the Department of Health has shown underage drinking to be on the increase and this has led to concerns about the growing number of alcopops that are now on sale.

The alcopops are thought to be more appealing to underage drinkers as their packaging is bright and contains cartoon images that will attract the younger person. There are also concerns about the words lemonade and cola being used in the advertising and on the bottle as this is misleading to the under-18s culture.

Although alcopops do not necessarily taste like alcohol they are likely to contain around the same volume to content levels as beer, between four and five percent. This is part of the concern; as although they have a fairly high alcohol content they do not taste very alcoholic. A survey on adults found that almost one in five couldn?t distinguish between alcoholic lemonade and ordinary lemonade.

These concerns have led to the industry bringing in codes of practice that advise that words like lemonade and cola should be used with care and the products? names, packaging and marketing must not be designed to appeal to under-18s culture. These codes of practice are designed to try and eliminate some of the confusion between soft and alcoholic drinks.