• Wall Street Journal, Friday, August 21, 2009 10:39 AM

A Bud Light "Fan Can" promotion that features beer cans dressed in local colleges' team colors is rolling out this month in retail outlets surrounding campuses around the country, reports John Hechinger. There are currently 27 different color combinations. Internal marketing materials say: "Show your true colors with Bud Light" and "This year, only Bud Light is delivering superior drinkability in 12-ounce cans that were made for gameday."

Samuel L. Stanley, a medical doctor who is president of Stony Brook University in New York, calls the campaign "categorically unacceptable" in a letter to A-B. Alcohol-related deaths among college students hit 1,825 in 2005, up from 1,440 in 1998, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. And Bruce Siegal, general counsel of the Collegiate Licensing Co., has complained about potential trademark violations.

Anheuser-Busch says the campaign is aimed only at fans who can drink legally, and promises to pull the cans near any college that makes a formal complaint. It's all part of a broader marketing effort that aims to use "color schemes to connect with fans of legal drinking age in fun ways in select markets across a variety of sports," says Carol Clark, Anheuser-Busch's vp of corporate social responsibility.

SABMiller, meanwhile, is introducing the Miller High Life brand to Vietnam today with the theme, "It's American time, it's Miller time," Stuart Elliott reports in the New York Times. Looks like we won the war after all .

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