great beer, great responsibility - MillerCoors

a l c o h o l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y21 and over, onlyMillerCoors knows it takes collective action to help reduceunderage drinking. We work closely with our stakeholders,including the Federal Trade Commission, local lawenforcement, parents, distributors, retailers and communitygroups, to help prevent youth access to alcohol.Our Respect 21 Responsible Retailing Program,developed in partnership with Brandeis University andthe Responsible Retailing Forum, helps communities raiseawareness and guides retailers in improving practices toprevent underage access to alcohol.In 2009, we worked with our distributors to expand theprogram to four new locations: State College, PA; SaltLake City, UT; Madison, WI; and Fort Myers, FL. In Respect21’s five-year history, we’ve introduced the programto 15 communities, with measurable improvementsrecorded in all locations. In La Crosse, Wisconsin,the program helped the community join together toaddress the issue of underage drinking. In Albany,New York, mystery shopper results improved from77 to 100 percent over a five-month period.8We also recognize the role parents play in preventingunderage drinking. MillerCoors partners with theSearch Institute to provide education informationspecifically for parents. In 2009, we launched a digitalmarketing campaign for MVParents.com, recentlyrenamed ParentFurther.com, driving 50,000 parentsto the website monthly to find tools to empowerteens to make the right decision not to drink.The website is grounded in Search Institute’s 40Developmental Assets , a framework of positivecharacteristics that help youth thrive and avoidnegative behaviors, such as underage drinking.Search Institute’s research shows youth with31–40 of the Assets are 15 times less likely toabuse alcohol than teens with 10 or fewer.Getting home safelytastes greatWe encourage consumers to planahead. In the past 22 years, morethan 2.3 million people haveparticipated in the Miller Lite FreeRides program on key holidays.AccountabilitythroughSelf-RegulationAccording to a 2008 FTCreport, self-regulatorypractices by alcoholcompanies are successfulat ensuring content doesnot appeal to underageaudiences.We recognize that consumersand stakeholders interactwith our brands in themarketplace, and we strive toresponsibly advertise.MillerCoors has a strictself-regulation processand reviews all marketing for adherence to stateand federal regulations. Our advertising is intendedonly to reach legal-aged adults and our policies andverification process ensures that at least 70 percentof any programming audience is 21 and over.To ensure that our commitment to responsibility isrepresented consistently, we train sales and marketingemployees, as well as external advertising agencies, onthe MillerCoors Marketing Compliance Code (MCC). In2009, we set a goal to train all teams on the new MCC,and by the close of the year we succeeded in training85 percent of sales and marketing employees, and 75percent of agencies. To reach our goal, our in-persontraining efforts are continuing in 2010.We also adhere to external compliance codes, such asthe Beer Institute’s Compliance Review Board process,which involves a third-party review panel for advertisingrelatedconsumer complaints.MillerCoors is constantly engaging externalstakeholders, and makes changes when necessary toits advertising. In 2009, we voluntarily pulled our MillerLite Taste Protector television advertisements followingobjections from one special interest group.Our distributors are also dedicated partners insupporting our commitment to responsibly sell andpromote our beers. We offer tools to help distributorseducate retailers, inform consumers and bringsolutions to communities.