Boston Beer Company, the owner of the Samuel Adams brand, defended its removal of “Creator” from a recent ad that quoted the Declaration of Independence this way: It’s just company policy.
The ad included an actor quoting from the founding document: “All men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
That differs from the actual Declaration of Independence statement, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The ad was released for about three weeks, around the Fourth of July period. But the company’s Facebook page is still receiving comments from angry viewers, ABC reported.
“I guess I should not be surprised that a company, interested only in profit, would rewrite American history for commercial gain,” one Facebook user posted. “However, abusers of history will no longer receive any of my money to support their censored advertising campaign.”
But the Boston Beer Co. says it was just following a rule from its trade group, the Beer Institute, based in Washington, D.C.
“We adhere to an advertising code, established by the Beer Institute — a beer industry trade organization — that states, ’Beer advertising and marketing materials should not include religion or religious themes’,” a Boston Beer Co. spokeswoman said, in ABC. “We agree with that, and we follow these guidelines and approach our marketing with the utmost responsibility.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Beer Institute said, ABC reported: “Brewers are committed to a policy and practice of responsible advertising and marketing and the Beer Institute’s Advertising and Marketing Code is a model of responsible industry self-regulation.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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