There’s the Long Tail, and then there’s the Strong Arm.

Over the last decade, Anheuser Busch, the behemoth of beer, has embraced the Long Tail strategy, argues Chris Anderson. The company “has hugely expanded the number of beers. coolers and other alcoholic drinks it offers, from 26 brands in 1997 to 80 brands in 2007. Today it makes organic beers, drinks for women, and host of microbrews such as Bare Knuckle Stout and ZiegenBock (available only in Texas).”

AB is certainly getting into niches. But if the essence of the Long Tail is the expansion of buyers’ options, I’d argue that AB’s strategy is more interesting as an example of an anti-Long Tail move than a pro-Long Tail one. It provides a lesson in how big companies can use Long Tail tactics to reestablish their dominance and, in the long run, reduce consumer choice.

AB’s expansion of its product line is an old-fashioned control-the-shelf-space move. The company is using its distribution and marketing might to crowd the little guys – the local and regional craft brewers, in particular – out of the retailer’s cooler in order to reassert its control over the market. In that sense it’s a reactionary program, borrowing Long Tail methods (a multitude of brands) to kill off the real Long Tail (a multitude of producers). It’s trying to cut off the little guys’ economic air supply and run them out of business. To the extent it’s successful, the consumer ends up with less choice than before – lots of mediocre variations on Bud with different labels and different niche-marketing programs.

Watch for similar phenomena in other markets, physical and digital, as various types of aggregators move in to roll up the long tail.