NEXT MONTH, News Corp.?s FX cable-TV network is expected to broadcast a one-hour special called the ?World Beer Games.? The program, which first broadcasts at 10:30 p.m. June 8, features teams of young men and women from around the world competing for the title of ?world?s best beer nation? and a silver-plated beer-keg trophy.
Intent on attracting that hard-to-reach young male audience, the show, sponsored by Interbrew, Beer.com, and Hooters of Canada, is jam packed with lowbrow humor. During one scene, voluptuous cheerleaders ? decked out in sparkling pastel short outfits ? demonstrate the beer chug and, little surprise here, end up with very wet shirts. In the pint curl, which involves teams sliding three 20-ounce glasses with 16 ounces of beer down a long bar, one brunette misinterprets the rules and ends up sliding her entire body down the bar.
?World Beer Games? features 16 teams from around the world, including Greece, Ireland, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic. During a pint-chug event, contestants including burly men and a young woman from Portugal are timed on how long it takes for them to drink 16 ounces of beer ? no dribbling allowed. A separate competition, the boat race, involves four team members who drink eight ounces of beer in a relay-race format.
?BRINGING BEER CULTURES TOGETHER?
The advertisers say they think the effort will help them break through the clutter of network commercials. ?I like to see us as promoters of our own brand and promoters of the whole beer category,? says Nigel Miller, director of public relations for Interbrew?s Labatt. ?World Beer Games was a nice fit in bringing beer cultures together.?
Although the program hasn?t yet aired, it has already riled some people concerned about alcohol consumption. ?Glorifying beer drinking is just another example of irresponsible marketing and promotion of beer consummation,? says George A. Hacker, director of the Alcohol Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C. ?People have been working for years to eliminate high-risk drinking practices and portraying beer drinking as the main event seriously misplaces the product in our culture.?
Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, New York, says the World Beer Games ?is exactly the kind of thing that raises the need to re-examine the limits that should be placed on beer advertising on TV.? Mr. Califano, who was secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter Administration, says the show is dangerous because it glamorizes the drinking of beer.
TV historians say the tough ad market, coupled with the proliferation of cable stations, has caused some to push the boundaries of good taste. ?If you are kid in a classroom with 10 other children and need the teacher?s attention you raised your hand,? says Prof. Robert Thompson, director for the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. ?But if you are in the classroom with 500 other children you may have to jump up on the table, drop your pants and say a naughty word.?
Prof. Thompson says the advent of hundreds of channels has created a similar mood among TV executives, forcing them to present more-provocative programming to attract viewers and advertisers. ?There will be no confusing this with Masterpiece Theatre,? he says.
Meant as an obvious parody of the Olympics, the World Beer Games boasts a sporting atmosphere that includes instant replays and yellow flags. Broadcasting the show strikes some veteran network observers as a bold move, but FX seems to relish controversy. The network earlier this year launched ?The Shield,? a raw police drama that several advertisers have steered clear of because of violent content and coarse language. In this instance, though, the cable network doesn?t think the show will stir much of a debate.
?MATURE AUDIENCE? RATING
?There have been plenty of TV shows about beer. ... This is probably no different from what you see on MTV?s spring break,? says John Solberg a spokesman for FX. The program will carry a ?Mature Audience? rating.
?World Beer Games? was conceived and produced by Aidan Tracey, the former general manager of Beer.com, a beer-enthusiast Web site owned by Belgian brewer Interbrew. Mr. Tracey has passed along some of the estimated $500,000 in production expenses to advertisers such as Interbrew, Beer.com and Hooters, the causal dinning chain known for its skimpily dressed waitresses. In return, the trio received commercial time, sponsorship rights and product placements.
During the opening ceremony, for example, a line of Hooters waitresses in full Hooters regalia ? tight T-shirts and orange hot pants ? are shown holding trays of greasy chicken wings. As the show opens, a Polish competitor swipes a wing, prompting the announcer to describe him as a ?Happy Hooters wing eater.?
Beer.com, a Web site that offers visitors snapshots of scantily dressed ?beer girls? and links to sites for Interbrew and other beer brands, also will enjoy a star turn. Trivia questions asked during the program say ?powered by Beer.com.? During the broadcast, Interbrew also will run nine commercials highlighting brands such as Labatt Blue and Rolling Rock.
Interbrew purchased the commercial time from Mr. Tracey, who was given half the ad inventory in return for providing the show to FX. In one good-natured segment a South Korean team is shown competing in regional beer trials held in South Korea. Team members wear T-shirts bearing the OB brand, an Interbrew beer sold in South Korea.
LIGHT ON PRODUCT PLACEMENT?
Those who helped create the ?World?s Beer Games? insist it is relatively light on product placement. ?We did not want the show to come across as an Interbrew infomercial,? say Stuart McLean, co-founder of Bedell McLean Branded Entertainment, the Los Angeles start-up that worked with Mr. Tracey to package the program for advertisers.
Big marketers involved in creating content is a growing trend on Madison Avenue. Still, this show is a unique twist on blurring the line between advertising and content. Unlike most marketer-driven shows, typically loaded with product placements, this program simply promotes the entire beer category. TV experts point out the promotional aspects are much more subtle this way. ?Its interesting and an insidious way? of getting a message out, says Syracuse?s Prof. Thompson.
To preempt any criticism about contestants? overconsumption of alcohol, the program has limited each contestant to four pints of beer a day. Moreover, of the show?s six events, four don?t even involve consumption of alcohol. ?The show is about celebrating beer culture and the fun of beer,? says Mr. Tracey. A warning against drinking and driving is also given on-air by the show?s commentators.
People close to the network say that because Interbrew will be the sole beer advertiser, efforts to sell commercial time have been hurt because they can?t sell ad space to other beer companies.
Despite such complications, Mr. Tracey already is plotting next year?s games. One of his responsibilities will be to lure a reclining chair company to sponsor the ?Can Toss? competition. In this event, teams toss empty 12-ounce aluminum cans into a trash can while lounging in reclining chairs. Consider the possibilities ...
Copyright ? 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Intent on attracting that hard-to-reach young male audience, the show, sponsored by Interbrew, Beer.com, and Hooters of Canada, is jam packed with lowbrow humor. During one scene, voluptuous cheerleaders ? decked out in sparkling pastel short outfits ? demonstrate the beer chug and, little surprise here, end up with very wet shirts. In the pint curl, which involves teams sliding three 20-ounce glasses with 16 ounces of beer down a long bar, one brunette misinterprets the rules and ends up sliding her entire body down the bar.
?World Beer Games? features 16 teams from around the world, including Greece, Ireland, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic. During a pint-chug event, contestants including burly men and a young woman from Portugal are timed on how long it takes for them to drink 16 ounces of beer ? no dribbling allowed. A separate competition, the boat race, involves four team members who drink eight ounces of beer in a relay-race format.
?BRINGING BEER CULTURES TOGETHER?
The advertisers say they think the effort will help them break through the clutter of network commercials. ?I like to see us as promoters of our own brand and promoters of the whole beer category,? says Nigel Miller, director of public relations for Interbrew?s Labatt. ?World Beer Games was a nice fit in bringing beer cultures together.?
Although the program hasn?t yet aired, it has already riled some people concerned about alcohol consumption. ?Glorifying beer drinking is just another example of irresponsible marketing and promotion of beer consummation,? says George A. Hacker, director of the Alcohol Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C. ?People have been working for years to eliminate high-risk drinking practices and portraying beer drinking as the main event seriously misplaces the product in our culture.?
Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, New York, says the World Beer Games ?is exactly the kind of thing that raises the need to re-examine the limits that should be placed on beer advertising on TV.? Mr. Califano, who was secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter Administration, says the show is dangerous because it glamorizes the drinking of beer.
TV historians say the tough ad market, coupled with the proliferation of cable stations, has caused some to push the boundaries of good taste. ?If you are kid in a classroom with 10 other children and need the teacher?s attention you raised your hand,? says Prof. Robert Thompson, director for the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. ?But if you are in the classroom with 500 other children you may have to jump up on the table, drop your pants and say a naughty word.?
Prof. Thompson says the advent of hundreds of channels has created a similar mood among TV executives, forcing them to present more-provocative programming to attract viewers and advertisers. ?There will be no confusing this with Masterpiece Theatre,? he says.
Meant as an obvious parody of the Olympics, the World Beer Games boasts a sporting atmosphere that includes instant replays and yellow flags. Broadcasting the show strikes some veteran network observers as a bold move, but FX seems to relish controversy. The network earlier this year launched ?The Shield,? a raw police drama that several advertisers have steered clear of because of violent content and coarse language. In this instance, though, the cable network doesn?t think the show will stir much of a debate.
?MATURE AUDIENCE? RATING
?There have been plenty of TV shows about beer. ... This is probably no different from what you see on MTV?s spring break,? says John Solberg a spokesman for FX. The program will carry a ?Mature Audience? rating.
?World Beer Games? was conceived and produced by Aidan Tracey, the former general manager of Beer.com, a beer-enthusiast Web site owned by Belgian brewer Interbrew. Mr. Tracey has passed along some of the estimated $500,000 in production expenses to advertisers such as Interbrew, Beer.com and Hooters, the causal dinning chain known for its skimpily dressed waitresses. In return, the trio received commercial time, sponsorship rights and product placements.
During the opening ceremony, for example, a line of Hooters waitresses in full Hooters regalia ? tight T-shirts and orange hot pants ? are shown holding trays of greasy chicken wings. As the show opens, a Polish competitor swipes a wing, prompting the announcer to describe him as a ?Happy Hooters wing eater.?
Beer.com, a Web site that offers visitors snapshots of scantily dressed ?beer girls? and links to sites for Interbrew and other beer brands, also will enjoy a star turn. Trivia questions asked during the program say ?powered by Beer.com.? During the broadcast, Interbrew also will run nine commercials highlighting brands such as Labatt Blue and Rolling Rock.
Interbrew purchased the commercial time from Mr. Tracey, who was given half the ad inventory in return for providing the show to FX. In one good-natured segment a South Korean team is shown competing in regional beer trials held in South Korea. Team members wear T-shirts bearing the OB brand, an Interbrew beer sold in South Korea.
LIGHT ON PRODUCT PLACEMENT?
Those who helped create the ?World?s Beer Games? insist it is relatively light on product placement. ?We did not want the show to come across as an Interbrew infomercial,? say Stuart McLean, co-founder of Bedell McLean Branded Entertainment, the Los Angeles start-up that worked with Mr. Tracey to package the program for advertisers.
Big marketers involved in creating content is a growing trend on Madison Avenue. Still, this show is a unique twist on blurring the line between advertising and content. Unlike most marketer-driven shows, typically loaded with product placements, this program simply promotes the entire beer category. TV experts point out the promotional aspects are much more subtle this way. ?Its interesting and an insidious way? of getting a message out, says Syracuse?s Prof. Thompson.
To preempt any criticism about contestants? overconsumption of alcohol, the program has limited each contestant to four pints of beer a day. Moreover, of the show?s six events, four don?t even involve consumption of alcohol. ?The show is about celebrating beer culture and the fun of beer,? says Mr. Tracey. A warning against drinking and driving is also given on-air by the show?s commentators.
People close to the network say that because Interbrew will be the sole beer advertiser, efforts to sell commercial time have been hurt because they can?t sell ad space to other beer companies.
Despite such complications, Mr. Tracey already is plotting next year?s games. One of his responsibilities will be to lure a reclining chair company to sponsor the ?Can Toss? competition. In this event, teams toss empty 12-ounce aluminum cans into a trash can while lounging in reclining chairs. Consider the possibilities ...
Copyright ? 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
