[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 27, Volume 1] [Revised as of April 1, 2002] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 27CFR7.54] [Page 94-96] TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY PART 7--LABELING AND ADVERTISING OF MALT BEVERAGES--Table of Contents Subpart F--Advertising of Malt Beverages Sec. 7.54 Prohibited statements. (a) General prohibition. An advertisement of malt beverages shall not contain: (1) Any statement that is false or untrue in any material particular, or that, irrespective of falsity, directly, or by ambiguity, omission, or inference, or by the addition of irrelevant, scientific or technical matter, tends to create a misleading impression. (2) Any statement that is disparaging of a competitor's products. (3) Any statement, design, device, or representation which is obscene or indecent. (4) Any statement, design, device, or representation of or relating to analyses, standards, or tests, irrespective of [[Page 95]] falsity, which the appropriate ATF officer finds to be likely to mislead the consumer. (5) Any statement, design, device, or representation of or relating to any guarantee, irrespective of falsity, which the appropriate ATF officer finds to be likely to mislead the consumer. Money-back guarantees are not prohibited. (6) Any statement that the malt beverages are brewed, made, bottled, packed, labeled, or sold under, or in accordance with, any municipal, State, or Federal authorization, law, or regulation; and if a municipal or State permit number is stated, the permit number shall not be accompanied by any additional statement relating thereto. (7) The words ``bonded'', ``bottled in bond'', ``aged in bond'', ``bonded age'', ``bottled under customs supervision'', or phrases containing these or synonymous terms which imply governmental supervision over production, bottling, or packing. (b) Statements inconsistent with labeling. (1) Advertisements shall not contain any statement concerning a brand or lot of malt beverages that is inconsistent with any statement on the labeling thereof. (2) Any label depicted on a bottle in an advertisement shall be a reproduction of an approved label. (c) Alcoholic content. (1) Advertisements shall not contain the words ``strong,'' ``full strength,'' ``extra strength,'' ``high test,'' ``high proof,'' ``full alcohol strength,'' or any other statement of alcoholic content, or any statement of the percentage and quantity of the original extract, or any numerals, letters, characters, figures, or similar words or statements, likely to be considered as statements of alcoholic content, unless required by State law. This does not preclude use of the terms ``low alcohol,'' ``reduced alcohol,'' ``non- alcoholic,'' and ``alcohol-free,'' as used on labels, in accordance with Sec. 7.71 (d), (e), and (f). (2) An approved malt beverage label which bears a statement of alcoholic content permitted under Sec. 7.71 may be depicted in any advertising media. The statement of alcoholic content on the label may not appear more prominently in the advertisement than it does on the approved label. (3) An actual malt beverage bottle showing the approved label bearing a statement of alcoholic content permitted under Sec. 7.71 may be displayed in any advertising media. (d) Class. (1) No product containing less than one-half of 1 per centum of alcohol by volume shall be designated in any advertisement as ``beer'', ``lager beer'', ``lager'', ``ale'', ``porter'', or ``stout'', or by any other class or type designation commonly applied to fermented malt beverages containing one-half of 1 per centum or more of alcohol by volume. (2) No product other than a malt beverage fermented at comparatively high temperature, possessing the characteristics generally attributed to ``ale,'' ``porter,'' or ``stout'' and produced without the use of coloring or flavoring materials (other than those recognized in standard brewing practices) shall be designated in any advertisement by any of these class designations. (e) Curative and therapeutic claims. Advertisements shall not contain any statement, design, representation, pictorial representation, or device representing that the use of malt beverages has curative or therapeutic effects if such statement is untrue in any particular or tends to create a misleading impression. (f) Confusion of brands. Two or more different brands or lots of malt beverages shall not be advertised in one advertisement (or in two or more advertisements in one issue of a periodical or a newspaper or in one piece of other written, printed, or graphic matter) if the advertisement tends to create the impression that representations made as to one brand or lot apply to the other or others, and if as to such latter the representations contravene any provision of Secs. 7.50 through 7.54 or are in any respect untrue. (g) Flags, seals, coats of arms, crests, and other insignia. No advertisement shall contain any statement, design, device, or pictorial representation of or relating to, or capable of being construed as relating to the armed forces of the United States, or of the American flag, or of any emblem, seal, insignia, or decoration associated with such [[Page 96]] flag or armed forces; nor shall any advertisement contain any statement, device, design, or pictorial representation of or concerning any flag, seal, coat of arms, crest, or other insignia, likely to mislead the consumer to believe that the product has been endorsed, made, or used by, or produced for, or under the supervision of, or in accordance with the specifications of the government, organization, family, or individual with whom such flag, seal, coat of arms, crest, or insignia is associated. (h) Deceptive advertising techniques. Subliminal or similar techniques are prohibited. ``Subliminal or similar techniques,'' as used in this part, refers to any device or technique that is used to convey, or attempts to convey, a message to a person by means of images or sounds of a very brief nature that cannot be perceived at a normal level of awareness. [T.D. 6521, 25 FR 13859, Dec. 29, 1960, as amended by T.D. ATF-180, 49 FR 31675, Aug. 8, 1984; T.D. ATF 280, 54 FR 3594, Jan. 25, 1989; T.D. ATF-339, 58 FR 21232, Apr. 19, 1993]