Bud Light has apologized for a marketing slogan printed on its bottles that critics said endorsed rape. 
 
 https://twitter.com/ofvoid/status/593078815754219521/photo/1 
 
 As part of its “Up for Whatever” campaign, the company had stamped some bottles with the tagline: “the perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” Photos of beers with the message were circulated online this week, with social-media users saying it promoted rape culture. 
 
 Alexander Lambrecht, vice president of Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light division, responded on Tuesday, saying the company would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior. The message won’t be printed on any more bottles, the company said. 
 
 “The Bud Light Up for Whatever campaign, now in its second year, has inspired millions of consumers to engage with our brand in a positive and light-hearted way,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “In this spirit, we created more than 140 different scroll messages intended to encourage spontaneous fun. It’s clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it.” 
 
 U.S. Representative Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, joined the beer company’s critics on Twitter, saying Bud Light should “promote responsible -- not reckless -- drinking.” The Bud Light campaign has drawn fire before, most recently for a St. Patrick’s Day tweet directing drinkers to pinch people who weren’t “#UpForWhatever.” 
 
 Marketing Gaffes 
 
 In the age of social media, marketing campaigns and product designs can travel faster and farther than ever. That means they fail harder too. 
 
 Urban Outfitters Inc. drew the ire of Kent State University last year for a red-stained vintage sweatshirt with the college logo and what looked like blood stains. Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students on that campus in 1970 during Vietnam War protests. 
 
 Zara marketed a striped shirt in 2014 with a six-pointed yellow badge that resembled uniforms worn at Holocaust concentration camps. Urban Outfitters also was knocked earlier this year for a tapestry that was reminiscent of Holocaust garb. 
 
 (A previous version of the story was corrected to fix the spelling of U.S. Representative Nita Lowey.) ||||| Beer lovers across the U.S. have accused Anheuser-Busch of watering down its Budweiser, Michelob and other brands, in class-action suits seeking millions in damages. 
 
 FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, file photo, Bud Light beer is shown in the aisles of Elite Beverages in Indianapolis. Beer lovers across the country have filed $5 million class-action lawsuits accusing... (Associated Press) 
 
 The suits, filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states, claim consumers have been cheated out of the alcohol content stated on labels. Budweiser and Michelob each boast of being 5 percent alcohol, while some "light" versions are said to be just over 4 percent. 
 
 The lawsuits are based on information from former employees at the company's 13 U.S. breweries, some in high-level plant positions, according to lead lawyer Josh Boxer of San Rafael, Calif. 
 
 "Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that as a matter of corporate practice, all of their products mentioned (in the lawsuit) are watered down," Boxer said. "It's a simple cost-saving measure, and it's very significant." 
 
 The excess water is added just before bottling and cuts the stated alcohol content by 3 percent to 8 percent, he said. 
 
 Anheuser-Busch InBev called the claims "groundless" and said its beers fully comply with labeling laws. 
 
 "Our beers are in full compliance with all alcohol labeling laws. We proudly adhere to the highest standards in brewing our beers, which have made them the best-selling in the U.S. and the world," Peter Kraemer, vice president of brewing and supply, said in a statement. 
 
 The suit involves 10 Anheuser-Busch products: Budweiser, Bud Ice, Bud Light Platinum, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Hurricane High Gravity Lager, King Cobra, Busch Ice, Natural Ice and Bud Light Lime. 
 
 Anheuser-Busch, based in St. Louis, Mo., merged with InBev in 2008 to form the world's largest alcohol producer, headquartered in Belgium. In 2011, the company produced 10 billion gallons of malt beverages, 3 billion of them in the U.S., and reported $22 billion in profits from that category, the lawsuit said. 
 
 According to the lawsuit, the company has sophisticated equipment that measures the alcohol content throughout the brewing process and is accurate to within one-hundredth of a percent. But after the merger, the company increasingly chose to dilute its popular brands of beer, the lawsuit alleged. 
 
 "Following the merger, AB vigorously accelerated the deceptive practices described below, sacrificing the quality products once produced by Anheuser-Busch in order to reduce costs," said the lead lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of consumers in the lower 48 states. 
 
 Companion suits are being filed this week in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and elsewhere. Each seeks at least $5 million in damages. 
 
 The named Pennsylvania plaintiffs, Thomas and Gerald Greenberg of Ambler, said they buy six cases of the affected Anheuser-Busch products a month. They did not immediately return a message Tuesday, and Boxer would not elaborate on their purchases except to say the consumer-protection suit does not involve retailers or bar owners. 
 
 One of the California plaintiffs, Nina Giampaoli of Sonoma County, said she bought a six-pack of Budweiser every week for the past four years. 
 
 "I think it's wrong for huge corporations to lie to their loyal customers _ I really feel cheated. No matter what the product is, people should be able to rely on the information companies put on their labels," Giampaoli said in a news release issued by Boxer's law firm. 
 
 Bloomberg News first reported Tuesday on the lawsuits. 
 
 In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Boxer said he has evidence to corroborate the former employees' allegations, but stopped short of saying the beers had been independently tested. 
 
 "AB (Anheuser-Busch) never intends for the malt beverage to possess the amount of alcohol that is stated on the label. As a result, AB's customers are overcharged for watered-down beer and AB is unjustly enriched by the additional volume it can sell," the lawsuit said.
– It seems there's good reason why Natty Light is just one letter away from Nasty Light: The beer (officially called Natural Light) is No. 3 on RateBeer.com's list of the 50 worst beers on the planet. The beer experts write, "We provide this list in the name of beer education. We aren't picking on the fat kid as much as we're making a few big brewers accountable for their products that are more about beer hype and marketing than substance." The worst offenders: Olde English 800 3.2 Natural Ice Natural Light Milwaukee's Best Michelob Ultra Sleeman Clear Budweiser Select 55 Coors Aspen Edge Click here for the rest of the list, or here to learn how to drown out the bad taste by mixing up a beer cocktail.