Can you imagine these products being marketed overseas? With so much concern about “the children” these days we doubt that fake beer for kids would make it past the pitch stage at any beverage company. Well, almost any company. Sure, there’s the sparkling grape juice that kids sometimes get on New Years Eve in lieu of champagne, but to have it specifically marketed to kids is a different matter. While Americans would likely overreact and freak out, we haven’t seen any such reaction here in Japan and these drinks have been out for a couple of years now.
Sangaria started their line of fake alcoholic drinks for kids with Kodomo no nomimono (Children’s drink), and has been successful enough to offer it in bottles, cans, and even six-packs. They also expanded the product line to include children’s versions of wine, champagne, and cocktails. The beer, flavored like apple juice, even foams at the top when poured into a glass!
Doesn’t the kid with the onigiri look alot surlier with a beer in front of him?
The differences between the West and Japan are often highlighted the most in the little things in life, and this is definitely one of them. Japan is well known for its group drinking culture, and this is actually a great way to include the kids during family celebrations. These are even sold at restaurants, which is ideal since most parties in Japan are done outside of the home. Of course, if find your four-year-old passed out in front of the TV with a pile of empty fake beer cans around him, it might be time for a kodomo no intervention.
Pictures of children via Sangaria
Michael is the Editor of JapanTrends.com and Director of the 
Wow, talk about starting them off young. Might as well give them some Popeye cigarrettes(you’ll know what those are if you’re over 30 and have lived in North America) to complete to ‘look’. That kid with the onigiri looks like an angry drunk.
“That kid with the onigiri looks like an angry drunk.”
Well yeah, but you just know that the girl will be putting out in a few decades…
This is somewhat old news… like 2 years old is it not?
Just think of how many alcoholics this will enable. :(
i am pretty sure group drinking is very important to western culture
Germany…
This is somewhat old news… like 2 years old is it not?
There was a different brand for kids out a couple of years ago, but it was just beer (not the wine, cocktails, etc) and I haven’t seen it in stores since. These are different, and much more fun IMHO. I see them all over the place these days!
In the States you have “sparkling” cider in Champagne bottles so children can join in festivities, no?
Same thing.
I dunno about seeing this “all over the place.” It’s not in the popual convenience stores or supermarkets here.
Yeah, my 8-yr old daughter is nuts for this stuff, especially in summer.
And, yes, in America, there would be a 5-alarm freak out about this. “Oh, my God! We’re teaching kids how to drink! Quick – let’s do something else! Something wholesome and All-American…give him a gun and let’s go shooting!”
Yeah, I saw my first “Kodomo no Beer” last month being marketed for Children’s Day. It was a different brand though, and tastes pretty much like beer, which is to say, crap (think O’Doul’s). Why on earth kids would drink it, I have no idea. But while I don’t necessarily think America has the best attitudes towards drinking and children, I think it’s just a bit much to actively encourage it.
Clearly, you have not been to Japan. Trust me when I say, it’s not the same.
Americans tend to go a little crazy and a lot overboard on issues like this. It’s in our culture to think that other people are stupid and that we should control them for their own good.
I once worked on a newspaper where a letter-to- the-editor attacked a quick-market store that sold gasoline but also sold beer and wine. The letter said the store owner was promoting drinking and driving. The store owner wrote back and pointed out that very few people walk to any liquor store, and that unless sniffing gasoline fumes while fueling up made people thirsty, there was no difference between his store and any other.
I suspect that letter writer’s childern are among the complainers here – people who don’t trust others as parents to be able to tell the difference between foamy apple juice and lager.
Drinking is a big part of cultures outside of the US. It is Not, however, drinking as Americans see it.
The Point is not “to get fucked up”, “Catch a Buzz”, or “Get smashed”
Drinking a beer or a glass of wine is a treat to enjoy, not to be abused. I’m willing to bet that every single one of those kids will turn out less maladjusted than most of the posters here.
“Just think of how many alcoholics this will enable. :(”
i grew up with all this stuff in japan.. japan has a completely different culture than the US and because of that, their views on alcohol are different too. it’s basically the same idea as the drinking age in europe being much lower than that of the US.
You don’t really hear too much about alcoholism in Japan, though. This may be teaching them somewhat to drink, but it’s like toy guns and whatnot that surround us everyday that give children good impressions about… you know… bad stuff. O___O
You know, this children’s beer might actually be a good idea.
Psychologically, it could actually prevent a child from growing up and becoming an alcoholic.
It’s the same thing with candy. If a parent strictly regulates their child’s access to sweets, then if the child ever visits the home of a friend where the parents always keep a bowl of chocolates out, they’ll go nuts and devour a good five or ten. However, the kids who always have access to that candy won’t really go for it. Sure they’ll take one or two every so often, but they know it’s always there for them when they want it.
Heck, I grew up in a family where we as kids at the age of 7 were given glasses of champagne on special occasions. No one ever even took more than two sips because we hated the taste so much.
American and Japanese cultures are so different that I’m not the least bit surprised over the marketing of this product in Japan. American society has put mindless taboos on everything from nudity to toy guns. They have to have an association and organization to control EVERYTHING, which is probably a reflection of the American people not being able to control themselves like sensible human beings.
I personally think that once you de-mystify the ‘things adults do’ to kids, it’s not as fascinating to them anymore.
Like speaking to them about the birds and the bees and bringing them out to clubbing once they are of legal age or something?
Once they become informed kiddies they are not as likely to abuse these things.
I am a good example of over-control when I was younger and grew up to be a rebellious kid. Heh!
What’s next? Root BEER and Ginger ALE?
I knew Americans would freak out over this, Im not and Im American. But to be fair I am half Japanese
barffie is so right when he says: once you de-mystify the ‘things adults do’’ to kids, it’s not as fascinating to them anymore.
I noticed in Copenhagen and Amsterdam almost 30 years ago that kids there happily walked by news stands on the pavement which contained postcards and magazines which today would be classed as pornography.
If the same news stands were to appear on the streets of any UK city now it would have crowds of laughing, giggling, raucus boys, followed quickly by the police, then photographs in all the tabloids….maybe even in some of the so called qualities, which used to be above that sort of trashy news.
Those European kids weren’t as shielded from sex as our lot, with the result they were quite calm about it. Whereas our more repressed youngsters would go into frenzy mode.
And which group of youngsters tops the league tables for happiness? Why the Scandinavians and the Dutch. And which are at the foot of the league tables? Why our kids and the equally repressed Americans of course. Is there a lesson here somewhere?
People, read the article again – it’s non-alcoholic. Kids (or adults) can drink bottle after bottle of the stuff and, though they might get sick, will never become alcoholics. We have the stuff here in NYC too and nobody is forming an organization to ban it. (I don’t think anyone is drinking it either, but that’s another story.)
PS My Japanese colleague says that this whole product line was the result of Japanese parents giving real beer to kids at parties so they can join in the toast.
The American publice (not necessarilly individuals) don’t mind when America makes things like “Root beer” of “Ginger ale” for kids but when other countries does something suddenly they assume something horrible about it. It is hypocritical.
Besides from my experience living in both countries I think American adolescents drink more alcohol than Japanese adolescents…
Though I don’t think there is a difference in alcohol consumption after age 21 between Japan and the United States.
I don’t really have any problem with this. A lot of good arguments abou this have been posted, but I guess I feel obliged to pop in my two cents. I’m half-Korean and half… uh… white, more or less, and I bounced between the houses of my Taiwanese and Japanese friends and the houses of my good old American friends… the differences in attitudes and cultural norms were very large. I had to almost “change faces” to go to different friends’ houses. In Japan, there is a difference in the way you view yourself and what you do, and for them, this is “okay.” I think it would cause quite a furor in the United States, but it is not a moral issue, it’s a cultural one. It’s a matter of perspective, not permissiveness.
Children tend to take after their parents. If their parents drink, then they want to drink, too. I think it’s a good thing that there is a kid-safe alternative to the real thing. A young child would be lucky to get down one beer and still be standing. Really, the drink isn’t the problem, it’s the after-effects. Also, I think kids should be taught to be responsible drinkers for when they do start on the real thing. On a similar note, why do so many people throw such a big fit if a child swears. We all do it. It’s our language. Not everyone swears, but most people use swear words in casual conversation. Why beat our kids for doing the same?
Ich versteh nicht ganz – warum macht man wieder nur die japanische mentalität dafür verantwortlich?
Die Deutschen machens doch auch nicht anders:
http://www.robby-bubble.com/index_de.html
ob das nun schöner ist – wers meint…
Wow, weird to find out about this, though it doesn’t really sound like a bad idea. It’s basically just sparkling apple juice that foams. I don’t see how it could be that bad.
It’s the same thing with candy. If a parent strictly regulates their child’s access to sweets, then if the child ever visits the home of a friend where the parents always keep a bowl of chocolates out, they’ll go nuts and devour a good five or ten. However, the kids who always have access to that candy won’t really go for it. Sure they’ll take one or two every so often, but they know it’s always there for them when they want it.
AZ
A very good point. I work in a retail store as a cashier, and i can which kids have access, and which ones don’t. It would be the exact same with the fake beer. The only problem is just the guys at the FDA. They would never clear it, because they’re just a bunch of confused morons. They have the completely wrong idea about what’s right and wrong for children. America is becoming paranoid, and is losing the ability to look ahead. It’s no longer hard work and working your way up, it seems more like “I’m American, and i deserve to be rich NOW!” It’s dwindling in quality.
I’m all for this idea, but most of the rest of america isn’t.
darn the system. I thought i plopped the guote down enough.
I thought that is a cool drink and it is a cool marketing product and note soft drinks probably causes just as much damage
1) I drink
2) My parents do not
I had my first taste of Brandy mix with soft drink when I was 5 during the festive season but that did not turn me into an alcoholic?
Adults should learn how to hold their drinks and marketing products of such does not indicate that kids would instantly become alcoholic if they start drinking alcohol-alike products.
Kids love to play grown-up, remember
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well, there are similar drinks in America, namely Martenellies(sp) sparkling apple cider. It is sold as a party drink that resembles Champagne. It is used in much the same way.
Wow I hadn’t heard of or seen these before. I will have to see if they are offered at my local grocery store.
I’m from the Philippines, and there’s an ethnic group of people here in the northern islands of Batanes (near Taiwan) called the Ivatan. Where they live in is ruled by a very harsh climate and freezing winds. On really cold evenings, both adults and children take a sip of gin to warm their bodies. There are no reports of Ivatan children growing into alcoholics because of the practice. In my old hometown, neighbours from the Visayas would bring home ‘tuba’, a strong liquor made from sugarcane, and give some to the children. It is frothy like beer, but brownish to pinkish in color. It was believed to be good for health.
yeah as some mentioned, the germans for example have root beer (malz bier), they have candy cigarrettes, robby bubble (fake sparkling wine)…
I don’t think about it being good or bad… It’s the way you handle the problem when you have a child. How you teach them.
i dont see the problem in this ad.
i live in germany and as like in japan group drinking belongs to our culture. and of couse kids see what the adults are drinking.
i can remember mixing water and apple juice because it looked alike beer and i was happy with it. its just a kind of lemonade.
i also think that it is good to let kids know that drinking beer and stuff is okay. then its not that special and forbidden and not that interesting that you will drink so much that you wake up in hospital?
do you get my point?^^