The Federal Trade Commission and some colleges are notifying the brewer of Bud Light that the cultural icon will have to find another method to infiltrate the young undergraduate minds of our nation’s colleges.
Bud Light has rolled out their new marketing gimmick just in time for the new college football season. The “Fan Can” is decorated with college team colors in select markets around the country.
But the campaign drew criticism from Janet Evens, a senior attorney with the FTC who oversees alcohol advertising, and from certain colleges because the stylized cans could encourage underage drinking on college campuses.
“We’ve told them we don’t ever want to see a campaign like this again,” Evens told multiple news agencies. “We’re concerned about the promotion because it is targeted to college campuses where there are a large number of binge drinkers and underage persons in the audience.”
Carol Clark, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president for social responsibility, told the Wall Street Journal in the corporation’s defense that, “This is a voluntary program made available by wholesalers nationwide, and roughly half of our wholesalers are participating.”
If the FTC wants to regulate alcohol advertising and its connection to underage drinking, the authorities should start by watching the current advertisements that beam into televisions across the country, such as “The Most Interesting Man in the World” produced by the Dos Equis beer brand. What young man would not want to emulate the bearded mysterious ladies’ man?
There are plenty of films that promote underage drinking as well, like the classic Animal House from 1978. There’s also the more recent Beerfest, released in 2006, which showcases many currently “played” drinking games that are intertwined with underage drinking.
So if some schools are participating and some are not, is it about a royalty fee that the colleges would like? I would imagine that the alumnus of a college would be more inclined to purchase Bud Light cans in their school’s colors due to school pride, calorie counting and Bud Light’s position or “standard” among beers.
Underage drinkers are not beer connoisseurs; they just want to get that beer into their system.
Approximately 25 colleges have asked Anheuser-Busch to pull the campaign near their campuses including Boston College.
“We did not want to give the perception that we were co-sponsoring in any way a campaign that would be geared toward underage drinking,” BC spokesman Jack Dunn told ABC News.
According to one BC student, “Bud Light, along with Natural Light and Keystone Light, comprise about 90 percent of the beer I’ve seen at college parties. This popularity, however, is not due to any successful marketing campaign, but rather to the beer’s low price and the fact that, as a light beer, it can be drunk faster and in greater quantities. Imagine playing a drinking game with Guinness and you can see why Bud Light is so popular to college drinkers.”
The complaint made by the FTC is appropriate, but not on target. The real focus should be on drinking games and binge drinking resulting from the availability of cheap beer.
What about placing a higher sales tax on cheap light beer? Fortunately for dormers all around the country, that is not in the hands of the FTC.
Calling out Anheuser-Busch was a valiant effort made by the FTC, and the beer giants have used a brilliant campaign in my assessment. But the Bud Light brand will remain “Microsoft-ish” in its nature and the FTC will continue to be the FTC.
Hanif Zarrabi is a Middle Eastern history graduate student and a columnist for the Daily 49er.