A plea to 25 states - Please stop abusing MillerCoors for power and greed

MillerCoors is being sued.  That in of itself is not news, as the company gets sued quite a lot : for not paying taxes in Puerto Rico, for dropping the ball at a Final Four game, or drunk drives looking for someone to blame.  The problem is who is suing them this time.  The Big Politics machine of The Center for Science in the Public Interest were the ones to shut down Budweiser's two energy drinks, Tilt and Bud Extra.  This not only gave the Center more clout, but also managed to suck out a cool couple million for all the states behind them.  The Center sells more magazine subscriptions - and everyone is happy - except for adults who wanted to buy them.  Lately, The Center saw more opportunity to gain more noteriety by going after MillerCoors, for producing Sparks, another alcoholic malt liquor.  With 25 states,  including California, Ohio, Illinois and Vermont, hoping to cash in on this maneuver, It is only a matter of time before they give up on this brand and shell out millions to eager states looking for a quick handout that looks good on a politician's rap sheet.

The issue is not that MillerCoors can not handle the political pressure.  There is no doubt that they will cave and Sparks will get pulled from the market just to stave off the PR nightmare.  The problem is the reason it is getting pulled.  There is no altruism going on here - no urge to really make your children safer.  The only real energy behind this movement is one of greed.

The states are using information supplied by the Center as the basis for their argument, and have them as the mouthpiece or their drive for caffeinated cash. CSPI is not a scientific organization, but  instead uses cliched rhetoric and skewed facts to claim these drinks are bad not just for you, but for the sake of your young children, who can not help but be sucked against their will into the lure of drinking Sparks.  This worked when they sued Anheuser Busch in February 2008.  When MillerCoors settle the CSPI plan to make a bigger name for themselves and grow as a company, selling more of their newsletters and gaining more political and financial power. These are the same folk who sued KFC for using oil that makes their chicken fatty.  They are responsible for the "Fettucini alredo is a heart attack on a plate" fiasco and sued Kellogs for trying to sell sweetened cereals to children. With over 900,000 subscribers to their newsletter at 10 dollars a year, the private agency has much to gain from being in the public spotlight.  Anheuser-Busch agreed to pay $200,000 each to the states that investigated its practices - and these states see this as a great way to pick up extra cash and political clout.  What bubbles up to the surface is they are all in it for greed, money and power, not to help anyone or to think at all of what the public actually wants.  If the CSPI manage to put enough pressure on MillerCoors to have them settle and pull Sparks, it will be just a matter of time before you will see warnings on the side of your Starbucks cup in the morning and needing an ID to purchase a bag of Earl Grey.

Next drinks on the chopping block - Joose, manufactured by United Brands, Rize, by the Stroh Brewing Company and Four Malt Liquor.

Topics: In The News