ESG
Topics A-Z
ESG Topics A-Z
Alcohol
To PepsiCo:
As adult (21+) consumers’ tastes evolve, PepsiCo identified an opportunity to connect with consumers in a new market: ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. We are excited to bring customers across the U.S. the opportunity to enjoy alcoholic versions of PepsiCo brands via a brand licensing model. However, alcohol consumption carries its own unique set of risks, so it's important that we work with the third-party manufacturers to whom we license our brands in an effort to ensure responsible practices in the marketing of these products. We support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all and aim to take action to help ensure alcoholic beverages with our branding are consumed responsibly.
To the World:
American dietary guidelines1 indicate that moderate alcohol intake can be a component of a healthy diet. Responsible marketing and sales of alcoholic beverages can help mitigate potential social harms of alcohol consumption, including impacts to individual health and the safety of the community. We strive to ensure all alcoholic products associated with our brands are marketed towards consumers above the legal drinking ages in regions where the products are sold.
Approach
PepsiCo does not produce any alcoholic beverages within company-owned manufacturing plants. Instead, we license our brands to manufacturers who own the products and formulas. In 2021, PepsiCo decided to move into the alcoholic beverage distribution space in select U.S. markets via a trademark licensing deal to a third party. PepsiCo’s distribution arm, Blue Cloud Distribution, Inc. (BCD), acted as a distributor for the PepsiCo-branded alcoholic beverages manufactured and owned by The Boston Beer Company and FIFCO USA.
At the start of 2024, BCD announced a pivot to a brand licensing and flavoring sales model to accelerate growth and fast-track national distribution of new and existing brands. Under this new model, now as Blue Cloud National, the organization will license select PepsiCo brands to manufacturers to build ready-to-drink alcohol platforms. In the months following the announcement, distribution rights for Hard Mtn Dew and Lipton Hard Iced Tea will transfer to distributors to ensure continued service to our customers. In addition, PepsiCo is exploring various paths to sell alcoholic products with our trademarks in countries outside of the U.S. The Canada business has already executed two such deals, where it licensed the Rockstar and 7-Up trademarks to Labatt, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Marketing
Though we do not manufacture the products, we expect the alcoholic beverage manufacturers to whom we license our brands to adhere to best marketing practices around alcoholic beverages. This includes but is not limited to differentiating the labels from non-alcoholic versions of the product, clearly articulating the alcoholic content of the beverage and stamping each package with 21+.
Related topics
Advertising and marketing to children and school sales, Nutrition