Top MU official wants campaign canned, AB responds
COLUMBIA -- It's been more than a week since a top University of Missouri official told the makers of Bud Light to can a promotion involving dressing beer cans in university colors.
On Thursday, Columbia stores continue to sell the special "fan cans."
More than a week ago, the university asked the beer giant to stop using their logos on ads to sell the fan cans. So far the beers are still stocked at several stores around town and selling fast, according to store managers.
"People come in saying, ‘I heard about these cans on the news, do you have them?'’ said Chris Andrews, who works at a Columbia convenience store.
Andrews says the black and gold cans have been flying off the shelves.
"The fuss the university is making is selling the beer more than the campaign is,” said Andrews.
Top university officials sent Anheuser-Busch In-Bev a letter asking the company to "cease" the campaign. The letter called the promotion "completely unacceptable," saying that team colors on beer cans targets underage drinkers.
The university was also upset with stores using the phrase "Mizzou" and the school's tiger logo to market the beer.
Anheuser-Busch would only respond with a written statement, saying they have stopped similar promotions in other cities across the country. It's unclear if the promotion will end in Columbia. The statement didn't answer any of our questions regarding the future of the black and gold cans. Our calls to the company weren't returned Friday.
Several stores say they haven’t heard anything from their suppliers about a fan can recall. University officials have not said if they plan on taking their fight any further.
The Federal Trade Commission has expressed concern the cans will be marketed to underage fans. It's not clear how many communities have seen the campaign dropped.
Aneheuser-Busch Responds to MU:
"The Fan Can program provides Bud Light packaging in color schemes to connect with fans of legal drinking age in fun ways in select markets across a variety of sports. The program is one of many elements that make up our overall Bud Light marketing plan, and this program is expressly timed to coincide with the beginning of the football season and baseball playoffs. These cans carry no third-party logos, names or other proprietary identifiers. Like all of our beers, these cans are sold through licensed retailers where consumers must be 21 or older to purchase the product.
This is a voluntary program made available to all wholesalers nationwide, and roughly half of our wholesalers are participating. We offered a variety of color combinations to choose from and in some cases, wholesalers have ordered multiple color combinations.
We place great value in the relationships we’ve built with college administrators and campus communities across the country. Certain cans are not being made available in communities where organizations had asked us not to offer them.
Anheuser-Busch has a longstanding commitment to promoting responsible drinking. Our company’s position on college drinking is clear: if students are 21 or older and choose to drink, we want them to do so responsibly; if they are under 21, we want them to respect the law and not drink. Since 1982, Anheuser-Busch and our wholesalers across the country have invested more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to help prevent alcohol abuse, including underage drinking and drunk driving." -Carol Clark, VP, Corporate Social Responsibility for Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Statement from MADD:
“Given the devastating problem of underage drinking on college campuses and the objections that a number of universities have raised to the fan cans, we ask that AB do the right thing and cancel this entire promotion,” Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD national president.
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