Not likely but some very alarming news came out this week in an article published by Advertising Age. The mammoth light beer brewers are seeing a downturn in sales at alarming rates and are scrambling to figure out how to right the ship. The most shocking (well not really but we’ll get to that) stats show the following…

Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light, the largest U.S. brand, is down 5.3% year to date, and the drop is in comparison to 2009, the first negative year in the brand’s 28-year history. It’s no less grim at No. 2 U.S. brewer MillerCoors, where the company’s leading lights, Coors Light and Miller Lite, are down 0.5% and 7.5%, respectively.

The first thing pointed out is the current recession and its effect on the beer market as a whole. The Beer Institute reports that beer shipments across the industry are down 4% so the biggest players are going to take the majority of that burden due to their market share.

Reason number two is the “death by a thousand cuts” theory. While most of the smaller brewers make less beer in a year than is spilled by the big boys, you put enough of them out there competing in the same segments and it is going to create problems. For every style AB has on the market, you can easily find 50 others just like it that are perceived to have a higher level of quality and taste.

I can’t make it any simpler than this, the beer drinker in America is starting to gain more knowledge into what makes a good beer. Vortex Bottles, Drinkability claims and Cold Activated Labels mean very little to the person on the hunt for a solid brew. While billion dollar marketing campaigns may help brand awareness (obviously), they don’t make the beer taste better. I don’t want to drink a beer so cold that the label on the bottle needs a little scarf and jacket.

When a big brewery releases a “craft” beer (see Bud Light Golden Wheat), it’s in a tough spot because people realize that the 10 other wheat beers on the shelf were made by companies who take great care in the product they release because its their future on the line. I’m not saying that BLGW is bad, just that if this beer fails, AB isn’t going to face the financial pressures a small brewer would if one of two brews in their product line didn’t make it.

We’ve all seen the guy driving a snazzy sports car around because he is, uhhhem, lacking somewhere else. This feels the same to me, if you need to constantly distribute the message that your beer is great for a gimmicky marketing reason, I’m not exactly going to run out and spend my hard earned money on it. If you have to tell me your beer is drinkable or is cold when the label turns a certain color, not only am I a little insulted as a human being capable of basic understanding but you are selling me on the wrong aspects of your product. Sell me on why I am going to enjoy your beer. Sell me on why I should dedicate valuable fridge space to your beer. Sell me on why this beer will be great for a get together with friends. Don’t sell me on the color of the label.

I’m guessing that Anheuser-Busch and Miller Coors will continue to do what they are doing which is to further pump up the marketing budgets on their key lines instead of actually making them taste better. They should take a page from Domino’s and put quality ahead of marketing. Won’t happen but a boy can dream right?

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on Bud Light, Miller Lite and Coors Light, comment below.

(In full disclosure, my beer fridge is always loaded with Miller Lite because I enjoy it for what it is, a light beer that fits into a price range that I am comfortable with and is a means to an end. The fridge is also full of any number of craft beers that I really enjoy because simply put, they have what the big boys don’t. )