Responsibility Matters

In the trade group known as the Beer Industry, Anheuser-Busch holds sway

Comments (0) By Ben Westhoff Wednesday, Apr 19 2006

"That amounts to an in-kind donation of more than $2 million," claims Rappaport, citing the baseline price of a Super Bowl ad. (Anheuser-Busch does not release figures pertaining to individual advertising expenditures.)

Why does A-B go to all the trouble? Because the brewer has an interest in creating the appearance of a unified front, says Glenn MacDonald, Olin Professor of Economics and Strategy at Washington University's Olin School of Business.

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"You tend to see groups like the Beer Institute when most of the companies [in an industry] have similar interests," MacDonald explains. "If all interests are pretty much going in the same direction, and there's one big player that's really kind of driving the bus, when they're negotiating or lobbying the government they're going to say, 'No, this isn't just one big company based in St. Louis, this is beer companies all over the nation, acting together.'"

When it comes to fighting taxation and advertising regulation, that's not necessarily a bad thing for the beer industry, adds MacDonald: "If everyone's involved, they exert a lot more pressure. Even if A-B no doubt sets the agenda."

When asked to comment on Anheuser-Busch's relationship with the Beer Institute, Robert C. Lachky, the company's executive vice president of global industry development, responded via e-mail.

"Like other major brewers, Anheuser-Busch is a board member of the Beer Institute (BI) trade association," writes Lachky. "The vision of the BI is developed by the association's board of directors, and Anheuser-Busch participates in this process as a BI board member."