Smart Bud marketing = hypocritical presidents

Let the hypocrisy begin.

It seems a few dozen university presidents are all riled up because Anheuser-Busch recently began a marketing campaign featuring Bud Light beer cans with local schools' team colors. So Bud Light comes in maize and blue in Ann Arbor, and scarlet and gray in Columbus. Sounds pretty savvy to me.

However, these university presidents are claiming this will lead to more binge and underage drinking among their students (I don't remember the color of the can dictating my choice for binging).

Let's face it. The real concern is protecting the brand. Maize and blue belongs to Michigan. No one else is allowed to even think about using those two in combination on anything that isn't approved by the UM licensing department.

The can pictured here is one that is being sold near LSU's campus in Baton Rouge.

According to the Wall Street Journal, at least 25 schools have formally asked Anheuser-Busch to drop the campaign near their campuses. The paper also noted that the University of Michigan's lawyers threatened legal action for alleged trademark infringement, demanding that Anheuser-Busch not sell the "maize and blue" cans in the "entire state."

You can just sense the concern for underage consumption buried in all that legalese about trademark infringement.

Hypocrits.