Anheuser-Busch Cos. will stop making beverages that combine alcohol with caffeine and guarana, resolving a multi-state investigation by regulators who alleged the brands were being inappropriately marketing as energy drinks.
The St. Louis-based beverage maker will stop production of its Bud Extra and Tilt brands until the drinks can be reformulated without the stimulants, the company said. Busch will take down the Web site for Bud Extra until the formula has been changed and will replace the Tilt Web site entirely once the new products come out. Anheuser introduced the brands in 2005.
Attorneys general in multiple states have been building a possible legal action against Anheuser-Busch and other makers of alcoholic energy drinks (AEDs) on the grounds that their advertising made misleading claims and targeted young drinkers (Promo Xtra, Feb. 22, 2008).
http://promomagazine.com/legal/news/ags_probe_
ab_miller_energy_drink_0222/index.html.
Law enforcement officials and advocacy groups maintained that ads for the Anheuser-Busch brands and for Sparks, an AED from Miller Brewing Co., wrongly suggested that the caffeine in the drinks counteracted the alcohol, permitting users to drink longer. Busch countered that its marketing for the products was appropriate and aimed at drinkers of legal age.
“Although Bud Extra and Tilt met all regulatory requirements, had much less caffeine than a Starbucks coffee and had received all necessary federal and state agency approvals, we are reformulating these products in response to the AGs’ concerns,” Anheuser-Busch Vice President of Communications Francine Katz said in a statement late Thursday.
“Our company has a long history of voluntarily working with the AGs to encourage adults to drink responsibly, and we are pleased to be the first company to answer the call of this group of AGs…who are asking the beer and hard-liquor industries to stop selling prepackaged caffeinated alcohol beverages,” Katz said.
Anheuser-Busch also agreed to pay $200,000 toward the costs of the AGs’ investigations.
Miller Brewing was not included in the AED settlement reached with Busch. The company released a statement Friday saying that it would continue to cooperate with state regulators, but that its caffeine-enhanced drink Sparks is properly marketed to consumers of legal drinking age.
Anheuser-Busch has bowed to regulatory pressure over new product introductions in the recent past. In May 2007, it agreed to pull its Spykes line of flavored malt beverages after law enforcement officials from 27 states alleged that the colorful packaging, sweet flavors and small packaging of the line made it too attractive to minors. Spykes came in flavors such as Hot Chocolate and Spicy Mango, and a 2-ounce bottle contained 12% alcohol.
While Busch agreed to discontinue Spykes, Marketing Vice President Michael J. Ownes said at the time that the product had been “unduly attacked” by anti-drinking groups and that Busch would keep looking for new products “to meet the changing demands of today’s adult consumers.”
In August 2007 most of those same attorneys general wrote to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to express their concern over “aggressive marketing” of the enhanced alcohol drinks by A-B, Miller and a third maker, Charge Beverages. The letter specifically took issue with the slogans used to market Bud Extra: “You can sleep when you’re 30” and “Who’s up for staying out all night?”
A month later, the Tax and Trade Bureau ruled that the companies were not violating its rules for alcohol marketing in promoting the enhanced drinks. But individual states can write their own laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages, and in February a handful of state attorneys general subpoenaed documents from Busch and Miller relating to their marketing of the caffeine-laced drinks.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest had threatened to bring suit against Anheuser-Busch and Miller for their marketing of the caffeinated drinks. While expressing appreciation to Busch for voluntarily agreeing to reformulate its products, the CSPI said Miller Brewing was “increasingly likely to face litigation over the beverages.”
The advocacy group pointed to marketing materials on the Web site for Miller’s AED Sparks that will have special appeal for youthful drinkers, including a recipe for a drink called a “Lunchbox” made by combining Miller beer and Sparks.
