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This week in 1981, Russ Ackoff, a longtime and influential AB consultant and Wharton professor, told Brewers Assn of America meeting that comparative taste test ads (that were a popular tool among competing brewers) were "offensive to the intelligence of the consumer" and "completely biased." One sip was no way to differentiate product quality, added Russ. Instead, if you really wanted to test preference, put cases of competing beers in households and see what they choose, he suggested. If a blind taste test used 3 beers, including 2 of same brand, Russ said that same brand "would invariably come in first and third." Russ also warned against oversaturation of advertising: "There is a point beyond which advertising will not increase sales a point further&hellip;but will actually decrease sales," he thought. This week in 1982, without naming names, Miller chmn John Murphy criticized mktg of some competing brewers. "I'm most concerned because we may be lowering our standards of business morality and behavior within our industry. If the public sees us as an industry with dubious moral standards, it could spell ruin for us all&hellip;. Let our public image tarnish, and few will be willing to stand up for us in Washington or in state houses across the nation," said John. "Today, we are more vulnerable than ever because our critics are so much more savvy in playing the political game and manipulating the media against us," he added.This week in 2000, Boston Beer Co announced it would split cost 50-50 with distribs for pulling out-of-code beer from the market going forward. Boston was first brewer to pick up some of this cost which was usually swallowed by the distrib. Earlier that year in March, Boston spent $2 mil in to buy back all old Sam Adams products from distribs.This week in 2003, when attorney David Boies launched his attempted class action lawsuit against brewers and distillers for allegedly mktg to underage consumers, it was curious the 2 biggest brewers AB and Miller were not included. After all, they accounted for 70%+ of beer sales and 60% of beer media. One plaintiff atty told Wall St Journal: "Knowing that this would be attacked very vigorously by the industry, we wanted to focus on the more egregious actors. There are some things AB and Miller are doing that raise concerns, but they are not in the suit." Some speculated that the $100s of millions AB/Miller had spent on responsible drinking programs helped to insulate them from attack. INSIGHTS noted tho that "defendant Diageo has spent plenty too, not to mention Coors" on responsibility messaging. Boies finally threw in towel and dropped all these suits by end of 2007.This week in 2005, Ad Age critic Bob Garfield took aim at beer advertising yet again. Beer biz "in a panic about losing share" to wine/spirits, wrote Garfield. It's "displaying the major warning signs of mercantile schizophrenia: disordered thinking, combativeness, self-destructiveness and chiefly the inability to distinguish fantasy from reality," according to Bob. He continued: "The sickness is by no means confined to one brewery, but if an intervention is necessary, Miller Brewing Co. might be a good place to start." New Miller Lite ads were a symptom of "delusional behavior" with "unabashedly adolescent" style and tone when industry execs (including Miller's) talk about making beer mktg more sophisticated again.This week in 2011, INSIGHTS shared an interesting analogy from consultant Joe Thompson who said that distribs and giant suppliers such as ABI were doing the same thing. They were taking profits from their "base" business, mature markets, and investing some of them in faster growing "emerging" markets. In ABI's case, the "mature" mkt is US beer biz; for distribs it is their AB biz in home territory. For ABI, those "emerging" mkt oppys are in Asia or LatAm. For distribs, it is often with craft brands, either in their home territory, or "insidiously" outside their footprint.This week in 2014, after reading our latest Beer Marketer's INSIGHTS, which included a riff on decreased dominance of AB distribution network, especially in top metro areas where MC distrib with full portfolio of craft and imports was often top dog, a source who identified himself as "Mr Big" wrote: "it looks like the Third's insistence on exclusivity and how we followed has really f-d the AB distributors for turning down all those brands. The other guys picked up a helluva lot of big profit gone forever from us. This makes consolidation for us all the more important."Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a great extended weekend. Enjoy!! And quaff a few cold ones, if you're so inclined.

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