Marketing and all things related

Back in February, Marketing Blurb told you the Beer Institute was updating their voluntary industry guidelines for advertising the golden elixir. We expressed a degree of skepticism then, and it seems we are not alone. The New York Times is reporting that the institute’s advertising code is under attack (free registration required.) Laurie Leiber, director for media advocacy at the Marin Institute, says "the beer ad code has loopholes that are big enough to drive a team of Clydesdales through." In February, we reported that the new guidelines would allow brewers to show drinking and “romantic interactions” (within limits.) But The New York Times reports that romance is nothing compared to this gem. The new guidelines allow for the portrayal of illegal activity in advertising as long as it "is a basic element or feature of a parody or spoof and is readily identifiable as such." Marketing Blurb stands by our original statement that: "beer advertising (on commercial television anyway) is juvenile, sophomoric, and okay, generally insulting to anyone with an IQ larger than their waist size.” Don’t get us wrong. We love beer. But beer advertising generally treats us like high school freshman looking for a good time.