IP Democracy: State A.G.s Hate Bud TV

Anheuser-Busch’s bold experiment in pitching beer via an online video network, called Bud.TV, has drawn fire from 21 state Attorneys General, according to this Ad Age piece. The A.G.s sent a letter to the beer maker lambasting it for too-easily allowing minors to access the site, despite the company’s efforts to bar minors from accessing the site through a series of questions that attempt to prove drinking age.

Arguing that as both producer of the content and owner of the site Anheuser-Busch has a “higher” responsiblity to ensure that minors don’t gain access, the A.G.s said “We fail to see how your use of age verification on the Bud.tv site is a genuine attempt to keep youth from accessing the site’s content.”

They want Bud.TV to have stronger controls in place, such as follow-up phone calls or direct mailings (the cost of which would presumably make Bud.TV a money-losing folly) or software that ensures that multiple users can’t log in under one legitimate i.d. They also raise another interesting point: Bud.TV videos can be downloaded and sent via email, defeating the purpose of any age-screening mechanism.

The real question is whether the A.G.s, who have the power, of course, to sue the pants off Anheuser-Busch, will take any further steps if the beer company doesn’t implement some changes to its registration and content distribution system. As the article points out, it was a gorup of state A.G.s who brought about the master settlement agreement with the country’s four largest tobacco companies.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on February 19, 2007 1:03 PM to IP Democracy