“Light beer shouldn’t taste like water.” That’s the claim Molson Coors can no longer make in its advertising for Miller Lite beer. The Council of Better Business Bureaus’ National Programs’ National Advertising Review Board advised the brewer in an appeal case to stop making the claim, thus upholding a similar decision made by National Programs’ National Advertising Division. The NAD decision came about after the claim “Light beer shouldn’t taste like water. It should taste like beer” was challenged by Anheuser Busch. In their findings the NAD concluded that the claim made by Molson Coors was comparable (i.e., “tastes like water” compared to “does not taste like water”) and was therefore “measurable.” As such, the NAD determined that substantiation was required, a finding echoed by the NARB who concluded that “no substantiation for the claim was provided by Molson Coors, nor did it provide any consumer research regarding its argument that reasonable consumers would not take away a comparative claim.” Compliance with NARB’s and NAD’s decisions is voluntary; however, the CBBB reports a compliance rate of more than 95 percent. Read More
Legislative Issues
