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Lime-a-Rita pursues a once-banned ad strategy; Regulators asleep?

2/23/2016

 
Picture"Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z."
Watchdogs dozing?

The gatekeeper for alcohol-beverage ads and related promotional materials, including labels, is the federal government's Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). It used to be that gaining TTB (or its predecessor agency's) approval for alcohol-beverage ads meant meeting pretty strict, carefully laid out guidelines. But something seems to have changed.

​Last year,
Slate.com castigated sexist craft-beer names--"Raging Bitch" and "Panty Dropper," for example--that would never have passed muster with federal regulators in the past. Similarly, two years back we called out a host of questionable craft-beer labels.

Alcohol-effect advertising 

Labels are one thing, television ads for alcohol are quite another. High on the list (no pun intended) of restrictions on alcohol-beverage advertising was a total ban on glamorizing "alcohol-effect." However appealing and effective it might be as a marketing gambit to entice new drinkers--especially young new drinkers--brands were banned from overtly celebrating the effects of alcohol-content on television. 

Until now.

Let's say a brand is out to reel in those new drinkers, what effects of alcohol might it try dramatizing? What about the buzz-y sensation that you've suddenly become a much better dancer? What about replacing reality with seeing things in bright and vibrant colors? What about hallucinations like statues appearing to come to life? What about experiencing a tranquil gathering descend into "bustin' loose?"

​Every one of these can be an alcohol-effect.


So, what about an alcohol ad that celebrates every one of these altered states, occasioned by the pop of a top, and a pour over ice?

Losing a quarter of your business in a single year--as the Bud Light Lime's Ritas just have--could make any marketer desperate. When your product segment's known for here-to-day-gone-tomorrow offerings, desperation's never far from the surface. So maybe flavored malt beverage (FMB) brands will always be willing to dance closer to the ethical line to make a sale. Perhaps Lime-a-Rita is only the latest at the prom.

Lime-a-Rita's inspiration?

​Indeed, it could be argued that the Bud Light marketing brain trust "went to school" on a smaller, but no less determined an alcohol marketer. See if you can spot any "bustin' loose" alcohol-effect selling going on in this long-form ad.
Is Bud Light Lime Lime-a-Rita selling alcohol-effect in a classier fashion than BuzzBallz? 
​
Heck, it'd be almost impossible not to. 

​But should they be selling alcohol-effect at all?
Picture
Birds of a feather... selling alcohol-effect together?

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    The Author

    Dan Fox is a real beer guy.

    For more than half his 30-year career at ad agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, he ran the Coors Brewing account. Leading a group of dozens of advertising professionals, Dan also personally wrote the Pete Coors "Somewhere near Golden, Colorado" commercials, designed the Coors NASCAR graphics, authored sales-convention speeches, and most important of all, formulated marketing strategy for virtually every Coors brand, including Coors Light, Keystone, Killian's Irish Red and more. His proudest achievement? "Our team had every Coors brand growing at once."

    Over his advertising career, Dan was personally involved in the analysis, planning and creation of thousands of ads for a variety of products and services. By way of this blog, he freely shares his expertise about what works, and what doesn't, when it comes to selling beer.

    If you're in the beer-marketing business--or just interested in the subject--you may want to read what "HeyBeerDan" has to say.

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