The feud between Miller Lite and Bud Light is heating up, with the parent companies of both brews offering their own versions of the fight that started with the Super Bowl. During the Feb. 3 game, Bud Light kicked off an ad campaign with a series of commercials that said unlike Miller Lite and Coors Light, Bud Light is not brewed using corn syrup. Corn growers around the country were frustrated, to say the least, and the public relations war was on. Now, both parties are facing off in federal court in Wisconsin — MillerCoors is seeking an injunction to stop the Bud Light ads from running, and Bud Light has responded by emphasizing its product is brewed with rice, barley, hops and water. In a recent court filing, its parent company, AB InBev, told the court, “MillerCoors now says there is no corn syrup in its beer, because that ingredient disappears from the final beer through fermentation. But corn syrup is no less an ingredient of MillerCoors’ beers than are barley and hops.” MillerCoors says AB InBev's statements "show it designed the campaign to exploit consumer aversion towards (high-fructose corn syrup) and prey on existing consumer confusion between corn syrup and HCFS." A pretrial conference has been set for May 28.
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