Beer and spirits industries respond to two recent reports criticizing advertising standards

Food & Drink Weekly, Sept 15, 2003

Beer and distilled spirits industries responded to two government reports on alcohol marketing released September 9 by announcing tighter standards on how and where they advertise. Member companies of the Beer Institute and the Distilled Spirits Council now will place ads only in media with an audience at least 70% adult. The previous minimum was 50%, set in 1999 following an earlier Federal Trade Commission report on the same topic.

The tighter codes were announced following reports on alcohol by the Federal Trade Commission and the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine and National Research. The FTC report found the industries 99% compliant with the earlier standards. The NAS report, however, advocated more alcohol restrictions, including higher taxes, ads against underage drinking and more review of alcohol ads.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has said it has found no evidence that flavored malt beverages (FMBs), also known as malternatives, are being intentionally targeted at minors through products, packaging, or advertising. The findings came in an FTC report called Alcohol Marketing and Advertising for the US Senate. In March 2003, the Conferees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees directed the Federal Trade Commission to study the impact on underage consumers of the significant expansion of ads for new malt beverages.

"The Commission's investigation of flavored malt beverages (FMBs) indicates that adults appear to be the intended target of FMB marketing, and that the products have established a niche in the adult market. The investigation found no evidence of targeting underage consumers in the FMB market," the report said.

Advertising for beer, wines and spirits topped $1.9 billion in 2002, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Most already was spent on TV, magazines, and radio with audiences at the 70% minimum. "Some of these provisions were already in practice, many of them already at the minimum level or higher," says Frank Coleman, spirits council spokesman.

Beermakers say their ads meet the new standard already. "For the last decade the vast majority of Anheuser-Bush advertising purchases were on sports and late-night programming, which traditionally attract audiences that are approximately 80% adult," says Tony Ponturo, vice president, global media and sports marketing, Anheuser-Busch. Both Coors and Miller also say they have exceeded 70%. Beer Institute President Jeff Becker says, "Codifying tells the public we are serious about placing our ads where the majority of viewers are of legal purchase age."

But safety experts say the changes are not enough, even as deaths linked to underage drinking and driving are down 7% since 1992. "Increased exposure to alcohol advertising and possible lower alcohol taxes will really have an effect on drunken-driving numbers going in the opposite direction," says Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association.