No froth in ASA decision on Amstel

29 Apr 2010

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of South Africa has ruled on three aspects of the complaint by SAB against brandhouse; two in favour of brandhouse, one in favour of SAB.

The ASA found that the claim that the Super 16 crate allowed customers to get "More on the Floor" was accurate. Prof. Nic Heideman, a professor of mathematics at UCT, supported this claim and confirmed that "you can get more bottles on the floor using the Super 16 Crate." The ASA ruled that this statement was substantiated.

The ASA also ruled that diagrams depicting the space efficiencies of the Super 16 Crate over the conventional crate were also accurate and thus substantiated.

Time needed for claim

The ASA only ruled against brandhouse in respect of one statement: that Amstel was "by far the best-selling premium beer in the market.” It found that Amstel needed to be "best selling" for a longer time period, before brandhouse could make this statement.

Ahead of the ruling, brandhouse had already decided to discontinue several claims made at the time it introduced the Super 16 Crate to the market.

Pat Rich, legal director at brandhouse, says, "Our trade communications have evolved as the Super 16 Crate has been accepted by trade - it was always our intention to focus on our premium beer brands and not on crates. The statements, which SAB challenged, are consequently historical - we were thus able to provide some straightforward undertakings and phase out the challenged material.”

“The company is, for the first time, able to compete in the returnables market which accounts for approximately 80% of South Africa's beer volume. The brand's 660 ml has an R10 return to seller price, which should enable a greater number of consumers to access this premium beer. The premium lager will be within the reach of aspiring South African consumers who wish to switch from mainstream beer brands. This is recognised by our competitors."

Complaint issued against SAB

brandhouse has issued its own complaint against SAB's "Demand More Campaign," which targets Amstel and was launched following its decision to compete in the returnable beer market. It contends that SAB is acting unlawfully in disparaging the brand, infringing the trademark and engaging in unlawful comparative advertising. brandhouse believes the "Demand More Campaign" to be in flagrant disregard of the ASA code of conduct. The ASA will determine the matter on 12 May 2010.