Bud Light “Fan Cans” leave bad taste in some mouths

Notice something different on your can of Bud Light?

Anheuser-Busch recently began a “Fan Can” promotion, distributing limited-edition Bud Light beer cans patterned after different universities’ colors.

Included in this are cans available in the area surrounding Central Michigan University patterned in maroon and gold — sort of.

“Those are national-level colors — those are not our colors,” said Athletics Director Dave Heeke. “They can be used for many universities that have red and yellow colors throughout the country.”

Madison Heights sophomore Nicki Rowlett said although the cans are a novel idea, associating the university with drinking may not be entirely responsible.

“I saw them on Welcome Weekend,” Rowlett said. “It’s cool that they have Central pride, but I don’t know if it’s the best thing to do with beer. It may not send the best message.”

CMU: No problems here

Heeke said the university worked with the Licensing Resource Group, the company that handles CMU’s licensing, to assure the campaign complied with university policy.

“There was concern from the university, and any time someone infers an association with the university … they have to be licensed,” Heeke said. “They are not allowed to use any marks or concepts that would tie the university to the campaign.”

John Bicknell, vice president of sales for the Anheuser-Busch division of Fabiano Brothers, the local distributor of Bud Light, said Fabiano has no intentions of associating the university with the campaign.

“It’s important to know that we have no intentions of tying this in to Central Michigan University in any way,” Bicknell said. “There will be no correlation between these cans and Central Michigan University and any of our signage in any way.”

Bicknell said although this is the first time Fabiano has carried university-colored beer cans, it is fairly common for Anheuser-Busch to change the color of their cans for promotions.

“We’ve had green and white cans, for example, for St. Patrick’s Day,” Bicknell said. “They’ve had black and orange for Halloween. They change graphics, and do these promotions quite often.”

Bicknell said the cans are being distributed in very limited quantities, and will be on the market for approximately one month.

‘No Way’s and Blue

Although Central Michigan University and Michigan State University are not protesting the “Fan Cans,” other universities, such as the University of Michigan, was not so willing to play ball with the promotion.

“We learned about the campaign that Anheuser-Busch was going to have and, when we learned about it, we objected to the use of University of Michigan colors on their cans,” said University of Michigan Public Affairs Director Kelly Cunningham.

“Our attorneys wrote letters to Anheuser-Busch that we strongly objected with the campaign. There was a back-and-forth, and the result was that Anheuser-Busch decided not to sell the University of Michigan-colored cans in the state of Michigan.”

Cunningham said U-M’s grievances were related to the licensing of their colors and connecting the university to alcohol promotion.

“We were saying the university has a strong policy against the endorsing or promoting the use of alcohol,” she said. “What they were doing would give the impression that the University of Michigan was endorsing an alcoholic beverage. As a university, our student population is largely underage, so we do not endorse alcohol use.”

Heeke said he has no knowledge of any similar resistence at CMU.

“I’m not aware of any legal concerns or maneuvers,” Heeke said. “I’m just aware that we are very protective of our marks and logos. All of us are concerned with alcohol consumption and how it is presented to young people making decisions, and that’s something we take very seriously.”