Beer Cans Brew Controversy

A controversy is brewing at a number of universities over a new marketing campaign by a popular beer maker.

"Fan Cans," as they're called, are geared towards colleges across the nation including East Carolina.

But there are concerns the cans encourage excessive drinking.

The kick off to the college football season is just days away and what better way to show your support for the Pirates, than by drinking beer out of a purple and gold can. At least that's the idea behind a new marketing campaign by Anheuser-Bush.

ECU student Dave Howard said, "I thought they were pretty cool." And that’s the reaction the beer maker is hoping will boost sales going into football season.

When we asked ECU student Jim Jones if the paint scheme would have him picking up Big Light over the competition he said, "Yea. No one else has that. I mean you want to show off for your team. It's like having a jersey."

The purple and gold color combination is one of 27 different options Bud Light is putting out, but some schools across the nation say its bad idea. They say it encourages excessive drinking, but ECU is staying away from the controversy.

In a statement to Nine On Your Side, a university spokesperson said, “We do not intend to try to interfere with any company's marketing decisions, so long as they are not infringing on our name or trademarks or creating any problem on the campus."

ECU student Rick Kaczmarczyk said, "I just drink the beer, man, and if it has the colors on my school on it, that sounds good too."

As for the controversy the cans have created, Anheuser-Bush said certain cans are not being made available in communities where organizations had asked them not to be offered.

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Full Statement from Anheuser-Bush:

Carol Clark
Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

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.

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Full Statement from ECU:

As I’m sure you know, these cans that you ask about do not carry ECU’s name or any of its trademarks, and the colors are by no means exclusive to our university. A number of other universities have the same colors.

I have no information about reaction on the campus. You would have to get information on success of the campaign from Anheuser-Busch.

At East Carolina University, we work very hard to educate our students about personal safety and responsibility, including responsible drinking.

We do not intend to try to interfere with any company’s marketing decisions, so long as they are not infringing on our name or trademarks or creating any problem on the campus.