The company behind the flavored malt beverage Four Loko has agreed to stop selling caffeinated alcoholic drinks and to restrict social media-based marketing of its products to those 21 and older. Phusion Projects LLC of Chicago was responding to 20 state attorneys general and the City of San Francisco, which had alleged that its products were targeting young people and encouraging alcohol abuse. The company will also pay a $400,000 fine, although it did not admit to any wrongdoing. The settlement further specified that the flavored malt beverage may not be promoted on school or college property except at licensed retailers and that no models or actors younger than 25 (or who appear to be younger than 21) may be used in product advertising. “Alcoholic energy drinks are dangerous – especially for the teenagers and young adults they target,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday in a statement. “Today’s agreement ensures that one company will no longer market a dangerous product to youth.” Phusion President Jim Sloan said in a statement: “We consider this agreement a practical way to move forward and an opportunity to highlight our continued commitment to ensuring that our products are consumed safely and responsibly only by adults 21 and over. Phusion continues to believe, however, as do many people throughout the world, that the combination of alcohol and caffeine can be consumed safely and responsibly.” Four Loko was originally named for its four main ingredients when it debuted in 2005: alcohol, caffeine, taurine and guarana. However, in 2010, after the product was banned in several states and faced potential FDA action to remove it from the market as unsafe, the formula was changed, caffeine was eliminated, and Four Loko was no longer marketed as an energy drink. In November 2010, just before the reformulation, Stephen Colbert drank a can of Four Loko on his satirical news program, “The Colbert Report,” and likened the taste to “a Duracell battery.” The effect of drinking one original 23.5-ounce can of Four Loko has been compared to drinking five beers and two cups of coffee.