Michigan bill aims to separate look-alike soft drinks, alcohol in retail stores

Michigan retailers might have to separate alcoholic beverage containers from similarly designed nonalcoholic ones under a bill introduced to the Michigan House on Nov. 7, 2024.

House Bill 6037 aims to ban retailers with a sales floor exceeding 2,500 square feet from displaying alcohol adjacent to “soft drinks, fruit juices, bottled water, candy, toys, or snack foods if the snack foods portray cartoons or youth-oriented images.”

Bill sponsor Rep. Phil Green, R-Millington, who introduced the bill, cited the proliferation of hard drinks, he told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

“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.”

Legislators should pass the bill into law to separate alcohol from non-alcoholic advertising, keep stores from selling alcohol to underaged patrons, and ensure underage that customers don’t mistakenly try to buy alcohol, Green said.

“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 wrote.

The bill language appears to target products such as Sunny D Vodka Seltzers or Hard Mountain Dew, said Amy Drumm, senior vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Retailers Association.

Under the bill, a retailer would have to post a sign clarifying that a person must be 21 years old to buy alcohol if it placed co-branded products next to soft drinks, fruit juices, bottled water, candy, toys, or snack foods if the snack foods portray cartoons or youth-oriented images, Drumm told CapCon in an email.

“The bill addresses ‘co-branded products’ defined as ‘any alcoholic liquor that has the same or similar brand name, logo, or packaging as a nonalcoholic beverage,’” Drumm said.

“Retailers are not trying to confuse or mislead customers by shelving these alcoholic beverages next to their nonalcoholic equivalent,” Drumm wrote. “Even if a customer fails to read the label and is confused, retailers must verify that a customer is 21 before a sale can occur.”

The trade association took a neutral position on the bill after the bill sponsor clarified that it didn’t prohibit shelving mixers that contain juice in the same aisle as products containing alcohol or end caps.

The bill was referred to the Committee on Regulatory Reform.