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TOPICS: alcohol
After protests from university administrators, cans of Bud Light colored in orange and maroon have been removed from local shelves.
Virginia Tech’s orange and maroon color scheme was one of 26 school-themed designs as a part of the “Fan Can” promotion. The cans have run into similar complaints at other schools whose colors were used in the campaign, including the
University of Michigan, Texas Christian University and Penn State among others.
Food Lion on North Main Street, 7-Eleven on Draper Road and Kroger at University City Blvd. no longer offer the maroon and orange Bud Light cans, instead selling the beer in its regular blue and silver cans.
In an Aug. 27 letter to the beer’s manufacturer, Anheuser-Busch, university spokesman Larry Hincker requested the company end distribution of the colored cans, calling them an “attractive nuisance.” Noting the issue of underage drinking on campus, the letter also chided the company for creating a false impression of school affiliation through the cans.
“While one cannot trademark colors, the general public still perceives school colors as part of a university’s identity,” wrote Hincker. “It must be apparent to Anheuser-Busch that only a Hokie or Hokie fan would intentionally purchase an orange and maroon product!”
A Sept. 10 return letter from Anheuser-Busch stated that the cans would be removed from the community “in the near future.”
At least 10 NCAA Division I-A universities have the color orange as a part of their school colors, including Atlantic Coast Conference rivals the University of Virginia and the University of Miami, and at least nine schools use the color maroon, including Arizona State, the University of Southern Mississippi, Minnesota and in-conference rival Boston College. However, no other schools use the two colors in combination as it appeared on the can.
“Who else would want a maroon and orange can?” Hincker said.
Director of Athletics Jim Weaver said the cans “brought the wrong message forward.”
“When they shipped them here in our color, they obviously targeted Virginia Tech,” Weaver said.
Packs with the colored cans were available in Blacksburg-area stores through the middle of November.
“I have to assume that those that were in stores were something that was already in the pipeline,” Hincker said.
A poll on a Bud Light Web site, TailgateApproved.com, still features the maroon and orange can as a part of a poll for fans to select their favorite color scheme. With only 2 percent of the vote, the “maroon and burnt orange” can is among the lowest-voted cans. A can colored “black and gold,” similar to the colors of Purdue University, the University of Central Florida and West Point holds the lead with 10 percent of the online vote.
Despite the uproar over the Bud Light promotion, Tech’s name has been associated with other alcoholic beverages, including Hokie Bird Red and Hokie Bird White wines through Floyd County-based Chateau Morrisette Inc.
Hincker said that Anheuser-Busch did not ask for permission from the university as a part of the promotion. The university licensed Chateau Morrisette to use the name in 2004.
“As far as I’m concerned, this was really a run around the trademark process,” Hincker said.
Hincker said that Tech would have turned down the promotion had it been asked, noting that Tech’s policy states it does not license beer products.
Leave a comment 25 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
Way to ruin a great thing VT. Lord knows no one was ever going to drink a bud lite underage before they changed the colors. This was great addition to the many sporting events at Tech and if you had a shred of intelligence you would have worked with Budweiser in some sort of promotion. Hey whatever though it's not like we didn't need money or anythong.
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A color can indeed be trademarked in the US, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitex_Co._v._Jacobson_Products_Co.,_Inc.
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Good job VT administration. Way to get the cans off the shelf...AFTER tailgate season is already over. Not only is their beef with colored cans a joke, so is their execution.
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It says in the article that Hincker's letter was dated August 27 asking for distribution to end. Anheuser-Busch's response was dated September 12 stating that they would be removed in the "near future."
These cans were intended to be for a limited time only from the very beginning. I can only assume this "limited time" was football season. Smart move on Anheuser-Busch's part to not comply until the end of the football season.
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I love how the university is against this yet they endorse wine with the Hokie image and brand name on it...
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To be fair, we have to have standards. Crappy wine is much classier than crappy beer.
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I heard that the administrators bought up all of these cans and now have them on Ebay to help fund the State Budget Reductions they have had to endure (along with tuition increases of course).
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Do these orange and maroon cans promote underage drinking any more than Virginia Tech shot glasses? Those can be purchased on campus!
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Yes, but see the university gets royalties off of those. The admin is merely angry that companies used our colors and they get no kick backs from the sales. The underage drinking excuse is merely a facade.
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Those aren't shot glasses! If you turn them over and read the UPC label it specifically says 'VT toothpick holder.'
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Conservatives ruining fun...*sigh*
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I agree with Calabash!
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So would a colored acceleration pedal increase issues with speeding?
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Black and gold may be the colors of Purdue et al., but the reason it's so popular is that they're also the colors of the New Orleans Saints. Those colors vastly outsell the green and silver (Tulane) and purple and gold (LSU) also sold here.
-Hokie fan in New Orleans
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Same colors as Purdue, Army, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Wake Forest, Colorado, Central Florida, Idaho, the New Orleans Saints, and Arkansas Pine Bluff
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I can't say I'm surprised that this is front page news. The CT is always on the ball when it comes to anything alcohol-related. Pander much?
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Actually, it is "alcohol-related", as in alcohol-related news story. Since the CT allows people to comment on the story he/she has every right to comment with his or her opinion. If your only reason to post was to criticize others then why post at all?
http://absolutewrite.com/forums//showthread.php?p=2074825
@ Stevidor, yes I have noticed for years that the CT covers nearly every alcohol-related story possible.
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Does the August 27th date of the letter send to Anheuser-Bush resonate with anyone else in the Tech community? This was the same date that two students were found dead in the Jefferson National Forest. I'm so glad that in a time of massive state budget shortfall, increasing tuition, students disappearing, students murdered, and other major concerns that should be top priorities for our university that the administration is dealing with only the most pressing of issues, the colors on beer cans.
I guess before beer was sold in maroon and orange cans Tech students were only drinking water and soda and all of a sudden these cans just sucked students into underage drinking and public intoxication, and all sorts of mayhem. If you like beer and you want to tailgate, it's cool to have a can in the color of your favorite team. Will having team colored cans make you drink if you had no interest in drinking before? I doubt it, all it might do is sway you to buy one brand over another. Most of the tailgaters who come each gameday to Blacksburg are of legal age to purchase beer as are most all seniors, grad students, and faculty. This is a non-issue blown out of proportion by an administration with misdirected priorities.
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So the administration, after learning of the students' deaths, should have run back to their offices and destroyed any work they had already completed that day prior to the discovery of the tragedy? Whatever point you wanted to make was never read due to the ignorance of your opening argument.
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His point is that the school has WAY more things to worry about than the color of beer cans.
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Sorry your attention span does not last any longer than 2 sentences. Must make those final exams pretty tough for you. Let me put it in words you might understand.
School has big problems they should deal with. School focuses on silly things that don't matter. Administrators should think about what matters.
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I love how they pull it after it gives them all the free promotion during game season. Hypocrites! VT admin suck.
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That is so freaking stupid. Who cares that they are targeting college students. If your 21 then it doesnt matter. And do these idiots think that the students arent gonna drink because the cans are blue....How dumb. personally I was looking forward to having my orange cans for my bcs championship party. I guess you cant sell your product to make a profit anymore. The whole point of the american dream is to create a business and make a profit. I guess now that we are a socialist country, we are to be limited by the government and special interest groups. Sad really.
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