Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Under 16s and freely available sugary drinks

60 replies

EloiseintheSun · 26/12/2013 10:13

www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/heritage/christmas/coca-cola-christmas-trucks.html

Coca Cola's massive pantechnicon came to our town, dishing out small cans of coke to anyone who wanted one for an afternoon and well into the evening. The organizers, connected to the local council, told a friend on the phone before the event that under 16s wouldn't be handed these drinks without parental permission. This was the last day of school and this certainly didn't happen.

Kids of all ages queued and Santa's elves did the needful.

I know that local stores don't dish out free food/drink to kids without parents say so. Anyone know the law on this one? I feel that CC has breached it but surely they have a panoply of lawyers to check?

OP posts:

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 10:44

Eloise. I have clarified the law for you. I don't think I can actually put It any other way. Would you like me to pm you my posts and highlight them for you?

SolomanDaisy · 26/12/2013 10:48

Why would there be a law preventing giving a drink to under 16s without parental permission? Why would you even consider this to be a possibility? Neither sugar nor coca cola are prohibited substances, so why would you think the government would want to intervene on this?

MrsDeVere · 26/12/2013 10:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PacificDingbat · 26/12/2013 10:51

I don't even think that Gillick Competence comes in to it (this would govern whether the child is able to make the decision to accept the cola or not), but whether the company is allowed to offer it to under 16s.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 10:53

Coke isn't subject to any controls by the government.

insancerre · 26/12/2013 10:53

strangest thread of the day
why would anyone even consider it illegal to give a free sugary drink to a child under 16?
totally baffled

Ememem84 · 26/12/2013 10:54

Not really sure where this is going but I sense some sort of boycott. Just be aware to stop buying everything. Coca cola are unfortunately in charge of everything.

sillymillyb · 26/12/2013 10:55

I used to work in marketing for an energy drink of which coke was our distributor.

Part of what we did was gorilla marketing, handing out samples on the street or at events from a promo vehicle and then moving on quickly to create a sort of buzz.

Coke policy was not to give the samples to under 14s, we would have stated that when it was being organised. We had stickers etc for under 14s. In reality though its very hard to enforce - there can be a bit of chaos in the distribution, and young teens can be very hard to guess the age of.

I would never have wanted to see an under 14 with the product that I worked for, it spoiled company image apart from everything!

If you contact coke they will apologise to you with varying degrees of genuine feeling and then potentially pass this feedback on to the sampling team and tell them to watch the ages on distribution.

Original poster

EloiseintheSun · 26/12/2013 10:56

I don't like Coke - I don't like the company - but this was, on the legal thread, a question about the law on free distribution. I genuinely didn't know. And I was genuinely confused by the organizers (from the Council) who said at first that it would be unlawful to distribute free drinks to under 16s and, then, that in fact it was the marketing of the drinks that was illegal. Both happened.

My thoughts aside, I just wanted to know if anyone could clarify things given the Council's original statements.

Pacific - thanks - yes, it is just facts I was looking for!

OP posts:

LineRunner · 26/12/2013 10:56

OP, I think the key here is that what the organisers said was a load of old bollocks.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 10:57

Coke isn't subject to any controls on its sale or distribution.

Therefore, it can be handed out free willy nilly.

Therefore, the relevant argument is should it be given to an u16

Since it's not subject to any controls on its sale or distribution, the only hope to bring an action is that the person to whom it was freely given (ie the child) lacked the mental competence and maturity to decide whether or not to accept it.

If the child was old enough to be out on their own in town at an event, without adult supervision, it is likely that they would be judged to have the maturity (aka Gillick competence) to decide whether or not to accept the can of coke.

Hth

sillymillyb · 26/12/2013 10:58

Also, your best course of action would have been to flag this up at the time to the organisers and they could have asked them to have more strictly apply the age restrictions. After the event there is very little recourse really.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 10:59

They may have broken a coke guideline, btw, but I really don't think they have broke the LAW.

And anyone with a teen who goes to town or back and forth to school on their own who DOESNT think they are buying sweets and coke seriously needs a reality check.

LineRunner · 26/12/2013 11:00

And what the organisers said was bollocks for the reasons so clearly articulated by oldbaghere

OP, can you prove what the Council said, e.g. in an email?

insancerre · 26/12/2013 11:06

Thinking about this, how were the organisers going to check children's ages?
Teenagers don't usually carry any form of ID, until they are old enough to drive.

JodieGarberJacob · 26/12/2013 11:06

From what I can make out from the website it says under 16s need parental consent to take part in their 'Coke Zone' stuff (whatever that is) so by turning up to the event they would assume that permission has been granted I would imagine.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 11:10

I am assuming that this child never goes anywhere unsupervised that takes them past as much as a corner shop and never ever has access to any money and has therefore never ever tasted the evil that is coke before?

specialsubject · 26/12/2013 11:13

actually it is your job as a parent to teach your kids that this stuff is toilet cleaner with added sugar. (try it - it really does work well on toilets)

it's not illegal to sell it or give it away.

the coke-truck people won't be able to tell who is 16 and who isn't.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 11:21

And another thing. These are the same teens who in a very few years (3?) you will have to trust make good decisions about drink and drugs???

If you can't trust them with a can of coke at 15 and are frothing about that, god help you when they're 18.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 11:22

Or actually, even now you're trusting them to make good decisions about drink and drugs.

And you're worried about a can of coke?

insancerre · 26/12/2013 11:27

I've got news for you, as the mother of a 24 and a 17 year old, I can tell you that most teenagers don't wait until they are 18 to 'make decisions about drink and drugs'
Unless you are with your teen 24/7 you have no idea what they are doing.
You have to trust them to make their own decisions.

snice · 26/12/2013 11:28

I don't think they do usually give out samples to younger children-we went to an Olympic event last yr where they were handing out the special coke bottles and my 11 yr old wasn't allowed one without me.

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 11:34

Insancerre. Very true.

Original poster

EloiseintheSun · 26/12/2013 11:34

oldbaghere - I am not 'frothing'! Not at all! This is nothing at all to do with my DCs.

It was simply a question about the law regarding free distribution as I'd heard different takes on this over the past few weeks and was curious as to what the law might be or whether, as is probably the case, it's quite hazy.

I'd hoped that this thread would shed some light. Just that. On MN, surely, we don't criticize each other for asking genuine questions?!

Thanks all for replies. I think that I'm quite a bit clearer now and will leave things at that.

OP posts:

oldbaghere · 26/12/2013 11:36

Eloise. Please direct me to where I said you were frothing.

Flip

1 2 3