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Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade
Bureau Announces New Alcoholic Beverage Advertising Program
By Robert
J. Driscoll
[January 2005]
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau recently
announced plans to step up its scrutiny of alcoholic beverage
advertisements. As the federal agency with principal responsibility
for enforcing and administering laws and regulations pertaining
to alcoholic beverage production and distribution, the Bureau
has in the past maintained a voluntary pre-clearance program,
reviewing alcohol advertisements that producers or distributors
elected to submit to the Bureau before publication. According
to an Industry Circular issued by the Bureau in December 2004,
the Bureau now also intends to request selected advertising
materials from producers and distributors in order to review
them for compliance with federal mandatory and prohibited statement
requirements.
The Industry Circular indicates that in conducting
this review the Bureau expects to focus on the following issues:
- The presence of mandatory information such as the name and
address of the responsible advertiser and product class and
type information;
- Statements or depictions that are inconsistent with approved
product labels;
- Statements that are false, misleading, or deceptive;
- Statements, designs, or the use of subliminal representations
that are obscene or indecent;
- False or misleading statements that are disparaging of a
competitor’s product;
- Prohibited uses of the word “pure” for distilled
spirits products;
- Misleading or false curative or therapeutic claims;
- The form and use of mandated and optional alcohol content
statements;
- Misleading references to carbohydrates, calories, fat, protein,
and other macronutrients or “components”; and
- Specific health claims and health-related statements.
The Bureau says it plans to target alcohol producers
and distributors for advertising review based on prior compliance
history and specific complaints and referrals, as well as random
sampling. It will continue to share responsibility for monitoring
alcohol advertising with the Federal Trade Commission, which
has jurisdiction under the Federal Trade Commission Act to enforce
federal prohibitions on unfair and deceptive advertisements.
The full text of the Industry Circular is
available at www.ttb.gov/publications/ind_circulars/ic2004_6.pdf.
For more information, please contact:
This Advisory is a publication
of the Advertising & Marketing Law Department of Davis Wright
Tremaine LLP. Our purpose in publishing this Advisory is to
inform our clients and friends of recent developments in advertising
& marketing law. It is not intended, nor should it be used,
as a substitute for specific legal advice as legal counsel may
only be given in response to inquiries regarding particular
situations.
Copyright © 2005, Davis Wright
Tremaine LLP.
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