E-Malt.com News article: 4029

USA, St. Louis: The marketing battle between the world's two biggest beer-makers is getting increasingly nasty. Miller Brewing Co. started the fight with TV spots showing a referee penalizing drinkers of Anheuser-Busch Cos.' Budweiser and Bud Light. Calling their choice of suds "unbeermanlike" conduct, the ref replaces the beer with Miller Lite or Miller Genuine Draft, The Associated Press commented on January 20.

Anheuser-Busch then fired back with commercials suggesting Miller's referees were actually stealing the Bud Light for themselves, in some cases looking to run from police with their ill-gotten brews.

Although the commercials amused many consumers, some observers say they lack sportsmanship and maybe good sense. Critics say there are several problems with the ad campaigns: Some of the Miller commercials make unsubstantiated claims about its rival's products, while the Bud spots include unlawful acts.

Anheuser-Busch, the No. 1 brewer, will have the edge during the Super Bowl on Feb. 6, because its purchase of ten 30-second commercials gives the company what's known as category exclusivity, shutting out Miller and other brewers. With a 30-second spot going for an average $2.4 million, that puts Anheuser-Busch's tab for the game at an estimated $24 million.

Meanwhile, in complaints to federal regulators and the Beer Institute trade group, consumer watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest has argued that the Anheuser-Busch commercials of beer-pilfering refs bolting from police depict lawlessness. The center said that "though done in a jocular manner, the ads clearly run afoul" of the institute's voluntary codes barring ads that "portray or imply illegal behavior of any kind."

"Crime is no joke, nor is the subtext of obtaining one's beer through underhanded means," George Hacker, chief of the center's Alcohol Policies Project, wrote in his complaint letter.

Anheuser-Busch defended the commercials as "clearly meant to be a spoof of the spots currently being run by our competitor with over-the-top humor that makes the spots funny." Some analysts submit that in an industry where brewers should get kudos for funny innovation in TV spots over the years, it may be time for Anheuser-Busch and Miller to stop chucking bottles at each other. "I hope cooler heads will prevail," said Juli Niemann, an analyst with RT Jones Capital Equities in St. Louis.


22 January, 2005