The Beer Institute (BI) has updated its Advertising and Marketing Code, including new guidelines on social media marketing and advertising placement standards.
The BI has been working on modernizing its code for 18 months, a BI spokesperson told Brewbound. Two of the updates are “interim updates” that were announced prior to the official changes.
“One of our most important functions as America’s preeminent trade association representing the beer industry is promoting responsibility, and that starts with regularly updating our code consistent with current industry practices, evolving technologies and consumer demographics,” BI president and CEO Brian Crawford wrote.
“The updated BI Ad Code is the most comprehensive in all of beverage alcohol and we are committed to updating it on a consistent basis,” the spokesperson added.
One of the largest updates to the code is updated guidelines for advertising with social media influencers, including a definition of what a social media influencer is and expectations for what a brewer must do if it finds that social media content by influencers violates the marketing code.
When working with social media influencers – defined by the BI as “a person who posts beer-branded content on a social media platform at a brewer’s request” – influencers must “implement age-gating measures, if available on such platforms, to restrict persons below the legal drinking age from accessing that beer-branded marketing and advertising.”
The BI also noted that “athletes, entertainers, celebrities and other public figures” should also comply with this requirement when posting beer-branded content on social media platforms, in order “to avoid doubt.”
The update comes about two months after the BI’s Code Compliance Review Board (CCRB), an independent review board, ruled on Bud Light’s social media content with influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The CCRB said the partnership content did not violate the trade group’s marketing code, but urged the BI to “examine the role of influencers and social media in brewer advertising.”
While the BI’s marketing code update process began prior to the Bud Light boycott and the CCRB review, “the CCRB decision did provide additional areas for consideration,” the BI spokesperson said.
To comply with BI standards, brewers should gather “audience composition data” before ad placements and “conduct after-the-fact audits, at least semi-annually where possible, of substantially all its placements,” according to the new code. The BI also urges “continued monitoring of a program or time slot or influencer posts to determine whether buys or agreements should be canceled or reallocated.”
The marketing code also addresses “user-generated content” – content created by consumers themselves without brewer overview – stating: “A brewer will regularly monitor user-generated content posted on the brewer’s websites, branded social media channels, or other beer-branded digital media sites, and beer-branded content from social media influencers for compliance with this code.”
If content does not comply with the code, “the brewer will take appropriate action to correct or remove the content or request correction or removal of the content.”
Finally, the marketing code states that public figures and social media influencers “who are generally recognizable to their intended audience” can appear in beer advertising “if they are of legal drinking age, reasonably appear to be of legal drinking age, and do not appeal primarily to persons below the legal drinking age.”
One of the updates made prior to the official new code rollout is audience demographic requirements.
The marketing code now requires beer advertising and marketing to have an expected audience that is at least 73.8% adults of legal drinking age (LDA) – above the 73.6% requirement that was implemented in July 2022. Both adjustments were made in response to updated data from the 2020 census. The previous requirement was an audience of at least 71.6% LDA adults, based on 2010 census data.
The BI also adjusted its code last year to address advertising and marketing materials for “alcohol variant[s] of non-alcohol product[s].” Those products “should be readily distinguishable from the advertising and marketing materials of the non-alcohol product to not confuse consumers about the alcohol nature of the alcohol variant.” Additionally, all marketing and advertising “should not feature both the non-alcohol product and the alcohol variant.”
Crossover products such as Boston Beer Company’s Hard Mountain Dew and Harvest Hill Beverage Company’s Sunny D Vodka Seltzer have faced scrutiny from groups including the National Beer Wholesalers Association for allegedly causing consumer confusion about alcohol content.
The new language in the guidelines was first released by the BI in December, when Crawford said in a press release that “brewers are committed to responsible self-regulation in advertising and marketing, and that includes ensuring consumers can easily distinguish between alcohol and non-alcohol variants of products.”
Other changes to the code include updated language for outdoor signage, privacy policies and CCRB procedures …
Outdoor signage
The new code clarifies outdoor signage guidelines apply to all advertising, “not just billboards,” according to a summary of the changes shared by the BI with Brewbound.
The new language reads: “Beer-branded signage and other outdoor advertising should not be placed within 500 linear feet of any established and conspicuously identified elementary or secondary schools or place of worship, or any playground, field, or sports facility that is both public and intended primarily for youth athletics.
“The foregoing restriction does not apply to signage or outdoor advertising at public, sporting, cultural or civic events or locations licensed to sell alcoholic beverages.”
Internet Privacy
The BI’s marketing code privacy policy guidelines have now been updated with “more modern terminology,” including a note that brewers should “comply with all applicable privacy laws,” according to the summary document.
The new language reads: “Brewers will maintain internet privacy policies that are publicly available on their websites. These policies will govern the collection of personal information form legal drinking age consumers on the brewer websites.
“Before they collect information from any consumer, brewers will require that individual to verify that he or she is of legal drinking age. Brewers will not collect information from consumers who identify as below the legal drinking age and will otherwise comply with all applicable privacy laws. Brewers will also employ a mechanism for consumers to opt-in to receive advertising and marketing communications from a brewer and an opt-out feature to stop receiving such communications.”
CCRB Procedures
The BI made several updates to its CCRB guidelines, including emphasizing that if a person or entity believes a brewer has violated the BI’s code and is dissatisfied with the brewer’s argument against violation, the complainant must request a board review within 45 days of receiving said brewer’s response.
Additionally, the code now notes that both the complainant and the brewer may file supplementary information with the CCRB for the review, a process that was already “consistent with Beer Institute practice,” according to the summary document.
The BI also added that it will compile the complaint file, send it to the CCRB and post it in its entirety to the BI website after the CCRB issues a decision.