Instead of focusing on the more important aspects of making beer, like taste and flavor, the folks at Anheuser-Busch are taking their rivals at Coors to task over what they apparently think we all care about – the can. Anheuser-Busch, the company that gives us Budweiser, has filed a complaint with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus over Coors’ claim to produce the “world’s most refreshing can,” among other things, because it’s 2013 and, damn it, this is what science needs to be used for.
In all, Anheuser-Busch claims that Coors is being a bunch of fibbers not only by claiming its can fosters the freshest beer, but also by stating that the Coors cans provide the “smoother, more refreshing pour” and that whole thing about those blue mountains meaning the beer is “as cold as the Rockies.” Naturally, Coors’ defense is that they didn’t think we’d take them so seriously.
“MillerCoors fully supports the self-regulation program of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council and National Advertising Division, but Anheuser-Busch InBev’s complaint about the world’s most refreshing can is frivolous and an inappropriate use of NAD’s resources,” MillerCoors spokesman Jon Stern said in an emailed statement to The Business Journal. “All of the statements regarding the can either clearly are intended as acceptable marketing puffery or have been proven through extensive testing as accurate.”
Regardless, MillerCoors plans to permanently end all “world’s most refreshing can” television, radio and digital promotions by the end of September, the NAD said. (Via the Milwaukee Business Journal)
It is apparently very rare for a complaint like this to be passed along to the FTC, but MillerCoors seems unwilling to check itself before it wrecks itself, and Anheuser-Busch is happy to see some alcoholic justice in this matter.
In a formal statement Anheuser-Busch said, “A-B believes in the self-regulatory process and we are pleased that the NAD is escalating the claim. The NAD has referred our claim to the FTC because MillerCoors has chosen not to participate in the self-regulatory process.” (Via Fox News)
Meanwhile, I’m going to take a survey of beer drinkers to determine whether or not people even care about Coors’ “double vented wide mouth” or Budweiser’s “first-of-its-kind self-contained venting tab” and, just as I expected – 98% of people who drink beer just want it to not taste awful. The other 2% want it to do this more: