Contacts: Amon Rappaport 415-257-2490
Laurie Leiber 415-257-2499

February 5, 2006

Bud’s Super Bowl Beer Ads Fuel Underage Drinking

New Research Shows Teens Who See Lots of Alcohol Ads More Likely to Drink

SAN RAFAEL, CA---Anheuser-Busch recklessly fueled this nation’s underage drinking epidemic by exposing the Super Bowl’s underage viewers--the largest youth TV audience of the year--to more ads for beer than any other product, the Marin Institute charged today. The alcohol industry watchdog points to new research, published last month in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, which shows that the more young people are exposed to alcohol advertising, the more likely they are to drink.

The world’s biggest brewer spent roughly $25 million to buy 10 ads for Bud, Bud Light and Michelob during Super Bowl XL, when an estimated 25 million underage youth, including seven million under 12, were watching. “Bud Light’s ads ended with the tagline ’always worth it,’” said Laurie Leiber, Director of Media Advocacy at the Marin Institute. “Clearly it’s ’worth it’ to Anheuser-Busch to spend a dollar per young viewer because the beer giant profits heavily from underage drinking.” According to a report by the Institute of Medicine, underage youth consume 20 percent of all alcohol in the U.S.

Using animals in beer ads, like the baby Clydesdale, sheep and bear in the Bud and Bud Light Super Bowl commercials, makes the brands popular among youth, according to research. A study published last fall in the Journal of Health Communication found that youth 10-17 years old prefer beer ads with humor, music, and animal characters, and are more likely to say such commercials make them want to buy the beer advertised.

“Using a baby Clydesdale to sell beer to kids is like using Joe Camel to sell them cigarettes,” said Amon Rappaport, Marin Institute’s Communications Director. “It looks like Anheuser-Busch finds inspiration for its TV commercials in kids’ story books.”

“Anheuser-Busch swears they don’t want kids to drink, but their ads tell a different story,” said Rappaport. “Underage drinking is a national health problem that claims more young lives each year than all illicit drugs combined, and these ads just make it worse.”

Consumers have helped change the beer industry’s behavior by filing advertising complaints using Talk Back, a system launched by Marin Institute during the 2005 Super Bowl. The Federal Trade Commission used these and other complaints to persuade the Beer Institute, a trade association for Anheuser-Busch and other beer makers, to establish an independent third party review process for consumer complaints. Concerned consumers can learn more and file complaints at www.MarinInstitute.org.

The Marin Institute is an alcohol industry watchdog and a resource for solutions to community alcohol problems.

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