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.