BOSTON BEER CHIEF PLANS APOLOGY ADS

BOSTON (AdAge.com) -- Feeling pressure from some Boston-area bar owners, Boston Beer Co. this week will run an ad in the Boston Herald and Boston Globe to apologize for a national radio promotion that encouraged people to have sex in public.

Details of the newspaper buy were not immediately clear. The company's agency is Big Chair Creative Group, New York, but promotions are handled in-house.

'Lapse in judgement'
The ad will expand upon Chairman Jim Koch's online apology, issued Monday, in which he said he was not in control of the "Opie and Anthony" show that aired on Infinity Broadcasting Corp.'s WNEW-FM in New York and that his Aug. 15 appearance was a "lapse in judgement."

Mr. Koch called about 10 bars

Related Stories: BEER EXEC APOL0GIZES FOR SEX SHOW INVOLVEMENT Samuel Adams Chief Calls It a 'Lapse in Judgement' RADIO SHOW CANCELED AFTER SEX CONTEST GOES AWRY Sam Adams Beer Promotion Turns Into Debacle

in heavily Catholic Boston, where Samuel Adams is headquartered, to apologize, the spokeswoman said. She said that while Mr. Koch knew the subject of the "Opie and Anthony" promotion, he was surprised to discover the locale was in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Contrition in print
The spokeswoman said most of the barmen have accepted Mr. Koch's apology. Some, however, have said they'll keep Sam Adams tap off until Mr. Koch apologized in print because consumers should not have to go to the company Web site to see his contrition.

This is the third year of the "Sex for Sam" promotion, which encouraged participants to engage in sex in public places with the goal of winning a trip to Boston for a Sam Adams-sponsored concert. Boston Beer, which has advertised on WNEW for several years, learned about the 3-year-old "Sex for Sam" promotion after its first year, a spokeswoman said. She said Boston Beer did not sponsor the racy promotion.

Mr. Koch, however, had appeared alongside the two shock jocks, Greg Opie Hughes and Anthony Cumia, at least twice before as they gave blow-by-blow renditions of couples having sex. He appears on the show at least twice per year, she said.

The Federal Communications Commission is investigating, and Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting canceled the show and the DJs were fired. The couple engaged in the sex act in St. Patrick's Cathedral was arrested.