WASHINGTON Twitter didn't exist the last time the Federal Trade Commissionexamined alcohol advertising, back in the lastdecade. /p p Now hundreds of millions of tweets flydaily across the micro-messaging site, including an increasingnumber from wine, beer and liquor companies seeking market buzz.It's part of a new media frontier, one that federal regulators areabout to explore. /p p In an ambitious venture, theFederal Trade Commission is requiring 14 major alcoholic beverageproducers to release information about their Internet and digitalmarketing efforts. The parent companies for storied wineriesincluding Kendall-Jackson, Robert Mondavi and Beaulieu Vineyard, aswell as the likes of Anheuser-Busch and Bacardi, are all beingtapped for precious data likely to shape future advertisingrules. /p p "The industry is innovatingquickly," Johns Hopkins University public health specialistDavid Jernigan said in an interview Tuesday, while "the paceof regulation and monitoring" has lagged.
/p p Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at theuniversity's Bloomberg School of Public Health, Jernigan said thenew study "can shine a bright light" on industrymarketing that's rapidly evolving to exploit new technologies. Oncecompleted, probably next year, the study will guide Federal TradeCommission recommendations on how the alcohol industry shouldregulate itself both on- and offline. /p p "Weas an industry have always been upfront about our practices,"Larry Kass, director of corporate communications for theKentucky-based Heaven Hill Distilleries, saidTuesday. /p p The last study of this kind, completedin 2008, compiled alcohol marketing data for 2005.
That year, 42percent of the surveyed companies' $3.3 billion in marketingexpenditures went for traditional media such as television, radio,print and outdoor billboards. Only 1.9 percent covered Internetefforts. /p p It was a different time, though. In2005, Twitter was still months away from being launched. YouTubehad just debuted, and Facebook was barely a year old.
Since then,some companies have really bellied up to the social mediabar. /p p "They're everywhere. They'reblanketing online," said Sarah Mart, research director for theSan Rafael, Calif.-based group Alcohol Justice, an advocacy groupthat criticizes what it calls the alcohol industry's "negativepractices." /p p /p p The makersof Southern Comfort, for one, several years ago diverted most oftheir marketing efforts to social media and away from traditionaladvertising. Bacardi, Jernigan's research found, has at least sevenFacebook pages that together claim some 1.7 million fans.
CaptainMorgan Rum promotes a video game app foriPhones. /p p "Fearless adventurers battlefriends and rivals in the true spirit of the legendary CaptainHenry Morgan," the game's introduction states, adding that oneshould "raise your glass, always inmoderation." /p p Other companies are stillfinding their virtual way. /p p Mike's Hard LemonadeCo., for instance, is one of the firms being surveyed by the tradecommission. But though it has had a Twitter account for 13 months,the @mhl Twitter address has trickled out only about 140 tweets fora scant 77 followers as of Tuesday. Other companies, meanwhile, cansound so excruciatingly straight-arrow that boosting sales seemssecondary to seeming responsible.
/p p "EarthWeek Tip," the makers of Miller and Coors beers tweeted lastmonth. "Bring your own bags to the grocerystore." /p p /p p The tradecommission's marketing survey went to some of the largest companiesthat represent myriad individual labels, such as Diageo PLC and theNew York-based Constellation Brands. California-based E&JGallo Winery, the world's largest family-owned winery, is not beingsurveyed. /p p The trade commission is limited inwhat it can do with the information it collects.
Outside ofregulating "unfair or misleading" ads, Jernigan noted,the commission largely lets the industry set advertisingguidelines. The industry's standard, for instance, is that at least70 percent of the audience for advertising consist of adults 21 andolder. This is stricter than it used to be, but not as strict assome would like. /p p "Companies," theFederal Trade Commission urged in its 2008 report, "shouldavoid online content that is likely to appeal tominors." /p p Industry standards likewise callfor alcohol purveyors' Internet sites to include age-screeningpages. Jernigan said he would like alcohol companies to startactively verifying ages, a practice currently followed on tobaccocompanies' websites.
Mart, of Alcohol Justice, said any surveywould be inadequate so long as the alcohol industry regulates itsown advertising; the trade commission, though, is unlikely to gofurther. I am an expert from Explosive, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as cheap paper lantern , wholesale paper lanterns.
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