Judge Closes Bar on Bud Light Advertising Campaign

(MADISON, WISCONSIN) While the New England Patriots were winning their sixth NFL championship in February, one company was looking to score additional market share. The reported $30 million investment from St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch was meant to set its Bud Light brand apart from other beers. Unfortunately, it isolated the company from other major brewers and even spawned a lawsuit from MillerCoors. The ad showed a medieval caravan pushing a huge barrel of corn syrup to castles for MillerCoors to make Miller Lite and Coors Light. The commercial states that Bud Light isn’t brewed with corn syrup. Last week, however, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction sought by MillerCoors that temporarily stops Anheuser-Busch from using the words “corn syrup” in ads without giving more context. The two companies combine for over 66 percent market share but have been losing ground to smaller independents over the past few years. Prior to the Super Bowl incident, the two brands had been discussing a national ad campaign to revive U.S. beer sales for more than a year along with Heineken and Constellation Brands, but that alliance fell apart soon after. MillerCoors maintains Anheuser-Busch is preying on health-conscious consumers who have negative connotations of corn syrup, sometimes confusing it with the high-fructose corn syrup in sodas. In the meantime, Budweiser and Bud Light have faced backlash from the agriculture community – especially the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).