Dundee council leader Jill Shimi is calling on the city’s shopkeepers to boycott a champagne-lookalike drink accused of luring children towards alcohol.

Mrs Shimi hopes to start a campaign against Disney Partyfizz, which she describes as “a cynical ploy.”

Partyfizz is a non- alcoholic apple and grape juice drink, but it is the packaging, as much as the contents, that is causing concern.

With its foil wrapping and wire tie, the bottle bears all the hallmarks of champagne and, when the cork is popped, the resulting bubbly drink looks indistinguishable from the real thing.

This foray by Disney into the soft drinks market has been branded as dangerous and irresponsible as cigarette-shaped sweets.

Mrs Shimi said, “When you consider the problems caused in Dundee and elsewhere by under-age drinking and the harm we know it does to children themselves and to our community it cannot be right to encourage children to think about alcohol and to be looking forward to consuming alcohol.”

Mrs Shimi said she planned to seek the advice of Frankie Claridge, the director of Tayside Council on Alcohol, with a view to campaigning against the drink.

No one was available at Disney Consumer Products yesterday.