The battle for prominence in consumers' minds means suppliers are happy to court controversy with racy material
Drinks companies are, of course, no strangers to controversy over marketing. But this year the sector has had more than its fair share of rapped knuckles for sailing too close to the wind. And  don't fall over  sex has been the culprit in the majority of the ads attracting watchdogs' scrutiny.
When Coors off-trade MD Chris Edger predicts "the winners over the next few years will be the brands with prominence", it's natural to assume the brewer intends to pursue this through marketing. There's no doubt Carling's prominence grew after the Independent Television Commission upheld 38 complaints about its Spillage commercial. The ad caused offence because of sexual connotations  it was shown before the 9pm watershed during the World Cup. "Carling has always had a sense of humour but we have to comply with the standards," admits Edger.
But it's not just the national brewers with the big marketing spends who have been associated with racy campaigns. Greene King made a deliberate decision to scrap Abbott Ale's religious iconography in favour of a more adult approach. In a £500,000 campaign, the brewer opted for a picture of a woman clinging to her bed sheets in apparent rapture with the words Some things are better given longer' underneath to communicate its brewing technique.
Greene King MD Rooney Anand is unruffled about the change of tack, as well he might be, having escaped the wrath of the advertising authorities. "We don't have the multi-million pound budgets like other national brewers so we can't play the mainstream marketing game. We never sought controversy but we did seek to get noticed in an intelligent way. We did not sit down and think Let's be controversial because all news is good news', because we don't believe it is."
Morals aside, Greene King achieved what it set out to. Sales of the beer grew 22.2% in the first quarter of 2002 to the end of July.
Other brands which have sailed close to the wind this year include Beverage Brands' WKD, which came under fire for causing "serious and widespread offence". Although the ads, which featured a naked man with a bottle of the PPS covering his groin and the caption Now that's WKD exposure', only appeared in the trade press, they still prompted complaints.
The ASA asked Beverage Brands to withdraw the ad, which it says it was happy to do despite feeling a certain discomfort that complaints had come from within the trade  notably from Adnams Brewers.
Marketing manager Karen Salters says: "On the one hand we had people saying to us that it was a fantastic ad and on the other side some people were disgruntled. We did think about whether we should change our stance. But we truly think it fits and we intend to continue with the theme. We are totally in touch with our audience."
Coors is also reviewing its advertising tack, but with the recent consolidation in standard lager it is likely the battle for prominence will encourage companies to take more risks when it comes to marketing.
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Drinks companies are, of course, no strangers to controversy over marketing. But this year the sector has had more than its fair share of rapped knuckles for sailing too close to the wind. And  don't fall over  sex has been the culprit in the majority of the ads attracting watchdogs' scrutiny.
When Coors off-trade MD Chris Edger predicts "the winners over the next few years will be the brands with prominence", it's natural to assume the brewer intends to pursue this through marketing. There's no doubt Carling's prominence grew after the Independent Television Commission upheld 38 complaints about its Spillage commercial. The ad caused offence because of sexual connotations  it was shown before the 9pm watershed during the World Cup. "Carling has always had a sense of humour but we have to comply with the standards," admits Edger.
But it's not just the national brewers with the big marketing spends who have been associated with racy campaigns. Greene King made a deliberate decision to scrap Abbott Ale's religious iconography in favour of a more adult approach. In a £500,000 campaign, the brewer opted for a picture of a woman clinging to her bed sheets in apparent rapture with the words Some things are better given longer' underneath to communicate its brewing technique.
Greene King MD Rooney Anand is unruffled about the change of tack, as well he might be, having escaped the wrath of the advertising authorities. "We don't have the multi-million pound budgets like other national brewers so we can't play the mainstream marketing game. We never sought controversy but we did seek to get noticed in an intelligent way. We did not sit down and think Let's be controversial because all news is good news', because we don't believe it is."
Morals aside, Greene King achieved what it set out to. Sales of the beer grew 22.2% in the first quarter of 2002 to the end of July.
Other brands which have sailed close to the wind this year include Beverage Brands' WKD, which came under fire for causing "serious and widespread offence". Although the ads, which featured a naked man with a bottle of the PPS covering his groin and the caption Now that's WKD exposure', only appeared in the trade press, they still prompted complaints.
The ASA asked Beverage Brands to withdraw the ad, which it says it was happy to do despite feeling a certain discomfort that complaints had come from within the trade  notably from Adnams Brewers.
Marketing manager Karen Salters says: "On the one hand we had people saying to us that it was a fantastic ad and on the other side some people were disgruntled. We did think about whether we should change our stance. But we truly think it fits and we intend to continue with the theme. We are totally in touch with our audience."
Coors is also reviewing its advertising tack, but with the recent consolidation in standard lager it is likely the battle for prominence will encourage companies to take more risks when it comes to marketing.
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