The Miller Brewing Co. has tapped the keg of controversy with a promotion designed to commemorate the "50th Anniversary of Rock and Roll." Miller, working with cover images from Rolling Stone magazine, chose rock musicians to be featured on cans of Miller Beer. Icons like Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson made the cut ? but questions about the selection process arose when no black artists did.<br />
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"Our objective going into the promotion was to get cans that were as representative as possible of the diversity of rock and roll," said Miller spokesman Scott Bussen. "Obviously, we hope people understand our intentions were right. Unfortunately, you have to deal with the real world when putting together a program like this."<br />
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The eight-can series, in stores since May, features images of Presley and Nelson, along with Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Blondie, Alice Cooper and two images of guitars. According to Bussen, the reason for the exclusion of black artists ? like Chuck Berry, James Brown and Little Richard ? had everything to do with licensing. "We looked to [Rolling Stone] for the artists we could get, and they came back to us with a list that was pretty limited."<br />
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Bon Jovi and Blondie could not be reached for comment.<br />
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Read the full story at <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1490235/20040816/presley_elvis.jhtml?headlines=true"><strong>MTV News</strong></a>
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