Posted on 11/15/2005 11:22:24 PM PST by RWR8189
MILWAUKEE - The latest fight in the U.S. beer battle is a matter of taste. Miller Brewing Co. says rival Anheuser-Busch has altered Bud Light in the past year to make it more bitter and bubbly, rolling out the claim about Bud Light in national television ads that began airing Friday. The company said data it has collected show Bud Light's bitterness and carbonation rose from last year.
Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. called Miller's claims "another marketing ploy" and complained to cable networks that the statements are false.
Now, 10 of 32 cable networks contracted to run the commercials have put them on hold while awaiting substantiation of the claims, said Pete Marino, a spokesman for Milwaukee-based Miller, a unit of SAB Miller PLC.
Several networks, including TBS, TNT and E!, have held the ads, while others such as CNN, CNN Headline News and Comedy Central continue to air them, Marino said Tuesday. Broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox were not targeted in the ad buys, he said.
"All we're saying that they're doing is that they changed Bud Light and that Miller Lite still has more taste," Marino said. "We need to be very diligent in protecting our taste claim."
Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. said Monday it has not altered its "winning formula." However, the company added, "our brewmasters are constantly making small adjustments to address seasonal changes in raw ingredients."
Bud Light remains the highest-selling light beer in the world, according to St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, which also controls nearly half the U.S. beer market.
"We saw negative advertising that included our product, and we were in the best position to explain to the networks that these claims are not true," Anheuser-Busch group vice president of brewing operations, Douglas Muhleman, said in a statement Tuesday.
The dispute is the latest chapter in a bitter skirmish for sales as Americans increasingly experiment with liquor-based drinks and more upscale microbrews and imports. As a result, beer sales have gone flat in the U.S. market.
In the first nine months of the year, Anheuser-Busch saw its share of shipments slip by 1.1 points to 48.7 percent, while Miller was flat at 18.2 percent, said Benj Steinman, publisher of trade newsletter Beer Marketer's Insights.
"Irrespective of who's right on whether the taste changed, it's a continuation of a campaign Miller has had for two years," Steinman said. Miller's attack in the light beer segment since 2003 helped turn around its flagship Miller Lite last year and steal market share from Anheuser-Busch for the first time in nearly three decades.
But the offensive has turned off some broadcasters.
Last December, CBS and NBC pulled three Miller ads that took aim at Bud Light and Budweiser, with CBS calling the ads "disparaging."
In April, the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau rejected Anheuser-Busch's complaints about Miller advertising, which said Miller Lite had "more taste and half the carbs of Bud Light."
A spokesman for Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., would not comment. A spokeswoman for E! Entertainment Television Inc. said the company does not comment on specific advertisers.
The latest commercials depict a court setting, where Miller Lite's taste is judged against a "changed Bud Light." One ad features rapper Flavor Flav as an expert witness.
BEER!
I guess adding a small amount of cocaine has already been tried...
If you're drinking either one, taste is probably not high on your priority list.
Miller makes great commercials, particularly their recent radio spot with the "beer referees."
But I'd rather pay for Coors, thanks.
I've thought that Bud Light's "Real men of genius" radio commericals are some of the funniest around.
But I still wouldn't drink the stuff...
Flavor Flav likes it.
The only time I can recall drinking "lite" beer was at Operation Liberty Rising, and that's only because that was the only alcohol they had at hq.
My cat likes licking his butt, but somehow I'm not tempted.
Why fight it? Both are crap anyway. Tuborg is little expensive, but much bitter, err... better.
That's what I was thinking.
That idiot in the commercial is (god help me) "real"?
That crap isn't beer. There ought to be a law...
I'm not sure I've heard those. I HAVE heard the beer refs commercial, however. I'm paraphrasing here: "And afterwards, Mars. Intergalactic beer refs. Oh yes, I've seen it."
Weaselpee, indeed.
Anybody who drinks Bud , Miller , Coors , etc...ain't drinking BEER . Americans , have been bamboozled by slick advertising and PR into thinking the aforementioned crapola is BEER ---it ain't . I trust my taste buds ( no pun intended ) ; not the TV . I can get water from my kitchen sink tap ( granted , it won't get my high or hungover ) . If I want a good lager beer there's plenty to choose from outside the big boys . Seek and you shall find !
You guys need to start drinking more Aussie beers (real Aussie beers, not that Canadian Fosters cr@p).
Fat tire and St. Pauli Girl are pretty good.
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