Ad war taken up by Feds

Modern Brewery Age,  March 21, 2005  

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The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus said it will refer Anheuser-Busch's challenge of Miller Brewing's "More flavor, more taste" advertising claims to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which is already reviewing Miller's campaign for fairness and truthfulness.

Anheuser-Busch filed complaints about the truth and accuracy of ads for Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft before the advertising industry's self-regulatory forum.

The NAD invited Miller to an inquiry, but Miller declined to participate. Miller has said it believes its claims are truthful and supported by consumer tests. Miller have cited blind taste tests conducted by the Institute for Perception, of Richmond, VA. as backing up its claims.

However, while those test asked consumers to comment on color and flavor of A-B versus Miller beers, they did not ask consumers which beers they preferred.

Anheuser-Busch has charged that the tests were improperly conducted and the ads lead consumers to include that consumers prefer Miller beers to A-B beers. A-B filed a protest with broadcast networks during November and CBS and NBC pulled some Miller ads in December.

The NAD said it referred the issue to TTB so as to avoid a "duplicative review that may yield a duplicative, contradictory or potentially confusing result."

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