• Ad Age, Monday, February 6, 2006 11:46 AM

The beer industry is taking steps to clarify the dos and don'ts of marketing its product. As part of the push, the Beer Institute has modified its code that self-regulates beer ads, spelling out for the first time since a 2003 revision the parameters of what can and cannot be shown in ads. For example, brewers can now depict drinking and "romantic interactions," within limits, in their advertising. The new code also defines humor, parody and satire for the first time as something "readily identifiable as such by reasonable adults of legal drinking age." Beer Institute officials said the change is aimed at clearing up any confusion about what's allowed, rather than designed to get scenes of drinking into ads. The revisions also specify code violations. For example, it says "Advertising and marketing materials should not depict situations where beer is being consumed rapidly, excessively, involuntarily, as part of a drinking game or as a result of a dare."

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