Four Loo: The Dangers Of Four Loko

On one October day in Seattle, police were called a parking lot of a small college town. There they found a young girl passed out in the backseat of a car along with a boy with a bloody nose. With such a strange scene, police tracked down where the pair had come from and ended up at a house they had just left. Police were surprised to find young people passed out throughout the house, along with outside. The scene was so strange, many believed it was the work of a date-rape drug, not just from being over intoxicated. (Murphy 1) In this new article, Kim Murphy explains that the blame was heavily put on the consumption of Four Loko. Known as “blackout in a can” (Murphy 1), Four Lokos used to contain a high amount of alcohol and caffeine mixed

Decreasing the amount of alcohol would allow people to have few of these drinks in one sitting. Selling smaller cans would allow people to enjoy the same drink but in smaller doses. While this might solve part of the problem, there are many more factors. The second reason that is evident in the dangers of Four Loko is the type and variety of flavors they come in. They are “marketed to kids by using fruit flavors that mask the taste of alcohol” which creates a huge impact on underage drinking. (Phusion Projects 1) Teenagers are more likely to be attracted to something fruity even if it has more alcohol rather than something that may taste stronger and be less dangerous. With flavors such as watermelon or fruit punch, it is hard to believe Four Loko is not purposely advertising to a younger crowd. Whether that is true or not, it an unavoidable fact people who underaged will lean towards a drink that has a bearable taste much like something fruity. Catherine Pearson explains that even “when that alcohol is masked by sweet flavors” our bodies may not be able to handle the toxic drink going inside us. Also with the large variety of flavors, many may feel the need to try all of them. This could cause drinking more than one in a night or multiple during a

Each flavor displays different brightly colored designs to draw people in. This plays a huge role in why many people do not understand how dangerous they actually are. With the fun design, their drinks seem non-threatening. How can something that looks so innocent be so bad for you? Also, it distracts many from where the alcohol content is located on the can, making it too hard to look for it before buying. In general, it may even be hard to notice that there is alcohol in them at all, making people think they may just be another energy