New Bill Seeks to Separate Alcoholic Beverages from Nonalcoholic Lookalikes in Stores to Avoid Confusion

Another state is introducing a bill where retailers will face a mandate to separate hard alcoholic drinks from their nonalcoholic counterparts. (Photo: Mountain Dew)

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported on Monday that the state’s house is introducing an alcoholic beverage bill that might force retailers to separate spiked canned drinks from their nonalcoholic counterparts to eliminate confusion.

The bill is called House Bill 6037, and it will require any retailer with a space over 2,500 square feet to display canned alcoholic beverages separately from non-alcoholic soft drinks and any snack foods with “youth-oriented images.”

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to discern between soft drinks and hard drinks, think ‘hard (alcoholic) iced tea’ vs. regular iced tea or ‘hard (alcoholic) Mountain Dew’ vs. regular Mountain Dew,” Rep. Phill Green (R-Millington) said.

Millington brought the bill to the floor, citing concerns about consumers buying alcohol on accident.

Bills like the one Green is proposing will at least prevent consumers from getting confused and purchasing these products.

“This is a great consumer protection bill as well as a great business protection bill designed to ensure that all are being protected without banning any products,” Green said.

The outlet reported that specific products were the focus of this bill, like Sunny D Vodka Seltzers and Hard Mountain Dew.

Other states have decided to pass laws keeping spiked versions of these drinks away from their non-alcoholic siblings, like Virginia and Illinois.

“In some situations, in some instances, these co-branded products have nearly identical markings as the non-alcoholic products, so it’s creating a lot of confusion in the marketplace,” Illinois Liquor Control Commission Executive Director Lisa Gardner said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

As for the bill in Michigan, retailers need to verify the customer’s age during the purchase. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports that the retail association was “neutral” on the bill and it was moved on to the Committee on Regulatory Reform.

This may seem hard to believe, yet instances of individuals accidentally purchasing or consuming alcohol have made news headlines before.

Sometimes, these mistakes have life-changing repercussions.

In Oct. 2023, a school bus driver named Amal Hanna was fired for drinking white claw on the job. She claimed she had no idea the beverage contained alcohol and thought it was a fruity seltzer, like a Lacroix.

Hanna, a 60-year-old Long Islander, was recently diagnosed with cancer before the incident. She claimed she was sober because of her chemo treatments and expressed that she couldn’t taste alcohol even if she wanted to.

“It was just a mistake, it was a mistake,” Hana said through tears during a New York Post interview about her accidental White Claws consumption. “For people like me that don’t drink — how are they going to know this is alcohol?”