COULD CHIVAS ONLINE CHANNEL SPELL TROUBLE?

As we reported yesterday, Chivas Regal has joined with MSN.com as the first spirits brand to launch an online channel, following in the footsteps of Anheuser-Busch’s bud.tv. As more marketers are going direct on the web, we have to ask ourselves, is it wise for beverage alcohol?

After A-B came out with bud.tv in February, twenty-three state attorneys general wrote a letter asking the brewer to step up it’s policing of underage consumers gaining access to the site which already had the toughest standards in place. The state AGs proposed several additional safeguards, like sending a postcard to the home or making a phone call to verify age. Will Chivas get the same reaction from state AGs that bud did? Mind you, neither websites are selling alcohol.