An alcohol-industry watchdog group claims the absence of Coors products on screen in “Scary Movie 4” is a victory in a battle against youth-targeted marketing efforts by the alcohol industry.
In a press release this week, the Marin Institute said Coors backed off on plans to launch a marketing campaign and insert its beer brands in the sequel to “Scary Movie 3.” “Scary Movie 4” is currently playing in theaters and has grossed more than $79 million in its first three weeks.
Coors critics, including the Marin Institute and other organizations, said beer sponsorship of a film rated PG-13 violated industry guidelines, which prevent brewers from advertising in movies where more than 30 percent of the audience is expected to be younger than 21.
“Coors learned a scary lesson,” Amon Rappaport, spokesman for the Marin Institute, said in the release. “There’s no happy ending when you promote beer in teen movies.”
Coors Brewing Co. spokeswoman Kabira Hatland denied that the San Rafael, Calif.-based Marin Institute and its allies had anything to do with Coors’ decision not to be involved in the film.
Coors had announced it would be involved in “Scary Movie 4” in a single “trade flier” even before “Scary Movie 3” was rated or released in theaters in 2003, Hatland said.
“We didn’t produce any consumer marketing in support of “Scary Movie 4″ because we no longer have an agreement with Miramax,” the studio that made the movie, she said.
Three groups, including the Marin Institute, launched a “Scary Beer Ads Campaign” against Coors’ marketing in “Scary Movie 3,” and “the company backed off its plans for the next film,” the release said.
A 2004 Colorado lawsuit accused the company, which subsequently merged with Canadian brewer Molson, of using the Coors Light twins – an identical pair of buxom young women – to promote the film “Scary Movie 3,” which carried a PG-13 rating.
A Jefferson County district judge dismissed the class-action lawsuit against Coors and other alcoholic-beverage makers.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
