MillerCoors Voluntarily Agrees to Reformulate Sparks

MillerCoors today said it has reached an agreement with a coalition of state attorneys general to voluntarily reformulate Sparks to remove caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng from the product. The brewer also agreed not to produce caffeinated alcohol beverages in the future.

While the formulation, labeling, marketing and selling of Sparks was approved by federal regulatory authorities numerous times, the company decided to reformulate the product based on concerns expressed by the attorneys general.

“As a responsible company, we are always willing to listen to societal partners and consider changes to our business to reinforce our commitment to alcohol responsibility,” said Tom Long, President & Chief Commercial Officer of MillerCoors. “These changes will allow MillerCoors to continue to market and sell Sparks to legal drinking age consumers.”

Long said the agreement with the attorneys general contained no finding that MillerCoors engaged in unlawful behavior or marketed its Sparks brand to people below the legal drinking age.

MillerCoors cooperated fully with the state attorneys general investigation of its Sparks brands.
“While we have listened closely to the AGs and respect their position, we strongly disagree with their inaccurate allegations about the marketing and sale of Sparks,” Long said. “The Sparks brand has been responsibly marketed only to legal drinking age consumers.”
MillerCoors will be able to sell through current Sparks product inventory as the reformulated Sparks is brewed to ensure no disruption in product availability to distributors and retailers.

Long said that the company is confident in the continued growth of the Sparks. “We believe we can and will expand interest and growth with a reformulated product and we remain committed to the Sparks franchise.”

In a similar instance, Anheuser-Busch InBev recently reformulated its Tilt brand to remove caffeine and other ingredients.

“We look forward to continuing to responsibly market and sell Sparks products to legal drinking age consumers,” he added. 

Based on the agreement, MillerCoors will:
• Discontinue manufacturing and marketing all caffeinated alcoholic beverages, including Sparks as currently formulated, by January 10, 2009.
• Reformulate the Sparks brand to remove caffeine, guarana, ginseng and taurine.
• Eliminate all references in advertising to caffeinated formulations and not promote Sparks as a mixer for caffeinated drinks.
• Remove current content on the Sparks website. Any new website may only market the reformulated Sparks.
• Eliminate the plus (+) and minus (-) symbols from the product label and marketing materials
• Make a $550,000 payment to be distributed among the participating states to pay for the cost of the investigation.

About MillerCoors
Built on a foundation of great beer brands and more than 288 years of brewing heritage, MillerCoors continues the commitment of its founders to brew the highest quality beers. MillerCoors is the second largest beer company in America, capturing nearly 30 percent of U.S. beer sales. Led by two of the best-selling beers in the industry, MillerCoors has a broad portfolio of highly complementary brands across every major industry segment. Miller Lite is the great tasting beer that established the American light beer category in 1975, and Coors Light is the brand that introduced consumers to refreshment as cold as the Rockies. MillerCoors brews full-calorie beers Coors Banquet and Miller Genuine Draft; and economy brands Miller High Life and Keystone Light. The company also imports Peroni, Pilsner Urquell and Molson Canadian and offers innovative products such as Miller Chill and the Sparks line of caffeinated alcohol beverages. MillerCoors features craft brews from the Jacob Leinenkugel Company, Blue Moon Brewing Company and the Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Company. MillerCoors operates eight major breweries in the U.S., as well as the Leinenkugel’s craft brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI and two microbreweries, the Leinenkugel’s 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee and the Blue Moon Brewing Company at Coors Field in Denver. MillerCoors vision is to become the best beer company in America by driving profitable industry growth. MillerCoors insists on building its brands the right way through brewing quality, responsible marketing and environmental and community impact. MillerCoors is a joint venture of SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company.