Who’s kidding whom? College students drink beer. A lot of beer.
So, when Budweiser began targeting students with its uniquely colored cans emblazoned with the school colors, it was no surprise that they appealed to college football fans and college students.
I first encountered the maroon and orange Bud Light “fan cans” during a recent trip to Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. It’s not often that you see a national brand use the unique colors of the Hokies, but there was Bud Light on the shelves of Blacksburg stores. Needless to say, Hokie fans, excited by their preseason Top 10 ranking, were “gobbling” them up.
“Show Your True Colors with Bud Light,” said the advertisements. 27 different colors were available around the country. ”Made for Gameday,” added the Bud Light advertisements.
At least 25 colleges have asked Budweiser to drop their fan cans. On Long Island, Stony Brook University president Samuel Stanley called the cans “categorically unacceptable. Stony Brook did not make the Top 10 in football or party schools by the way.
45% of college students indicate that they have been involved in binge drinking which is regarded as drinking five or more alcoholic beverages in one sitting. At Penn State, named # 1 Party School by Princeton Review, it is significantly higher than that.