Coors' Beer "Twins" Target of Inquiry - Does This Mean No More "Sex and Beer" Ads?

According to the Oakland Tribune:
Consumers offended by scantily clad beer babes or predominant placement of beer in PG-13 flicks will have someone new to appeal to come Jan. 1.
The Beer Institute, a trade and lobbying group whose membership includes Golden-based Coors Brewing Co., will appoint a panel to encourage compliance with advertising standards beginning Jan. 1.

Coors built a years-long campaign around its bikini-clad blond twins and is currently partnering with Maxim to sponsor a nationwide "Hunt for Hotties."

The Beer Institute's five-member panel will hear appeals from consumers who believe that beer companies haven't addressed their advertising issues, including complaints that beer ads violate decency standards or purposely appeal to those under 21.

The institute boasts about 100 brewer members from giants such as Anheuser Busch, Miller and Coors to small regional beer companies including Fort Collins-based New Belgium, said institute President Jeff Becker.

"What we want to provide is an opportunity for consumers who have complained and don't agree with the brewer's response," he said.

Under the new program, the institute appoints a five-member panel, any three of whom would hear consumer complaints and then recommend what, if any, action the brewer should take, Becker said.

The five panel members would be financially independent of both the institute and its membership, he said, and would address complaints only after the companies had been given a chance to fix the problem.

Part of the criteria the panel will use is the institute's six-page Advertising and Marketing Code, a voluntary guideline for members concerned about not crossing a line with their ads.

Of particular concern is that they market to a legal beer-buying audience and not to those under 21. Currently, the code calls for beer companies to only advertise products to audiences in which 70 percent or more are at least 21.

Coors has its own, similar code in place and already gets help from a third party. It uses "21 means 21" as a slogan in its current ads.