Last call for Sparty came while the University of Maryland celebrated its National Championship Monday.
MSU’s mascot appeared in a 30-second Anheuser-Busch Inc. commercial that aired 17 times during the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments last month. The commercial has come under fire from the American Medical Association.
The advertisement featured eight mascots, including the Penn State University Nittany Lion and the Clemson University Tiger. It opens with a coach looking toward a set of bleachers giving his off-camera team a pep-talk.
“The way you celebrate says a lot about you,” the coach says. “So keep up the good work. Being responsible, respecting the law, celebrating safely - it’s all about having a good head on your shoulders.”
He then glances at his team and the camera unmasks the squad - a group of mascots, including Sparty in the center of the team.
“I’m sure the folks at Michigan State, Penn State and the other schools involved had the best intentions in the world and they are doing everything they can do with the problem of college binge drinking,” said Lisa Erk, spokeswoman for the American Medical Association’s A Matter of Degree, a program that promotes limits on alcohol advertising.
The medical association is criticizing the brewery for advertising during college events and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges for continuing its partnership with the brewery. The association, which represents 203 schools, including all Big Ten schools, co-sponsored the spot.
Erk said she has more of a problem with the partnership between the beer maker and the college association than the commercial itself.
“It’s about whether or not they should be participating with a product that we know is producing problems on college campuses,” Erk said. “I think they need to question their partnership with Anheuser-Busch.”
“We’re not trying to kill fun at all. We’re saying drinking is a problem and we want to try and make an impact.”
MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said university officials saw the script in advance and signed off on it.
“It tested very well, especially among parents of college students,” he said. “It’s the message of responsible celebration that’s at the heart of what we’ve been saying.
“If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
MSU was not paid for Sparty’s appearance in the commercial, but Anheuser-Busch did cover travel and lodging expenses for the university mascot.
Anheuser-Busch said the advertisement is part of a social norms marketing project.
“Social Norms Marketing is all about focusing on the positives rather than the negatives,” said Kim Stettes, spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch Inc. “The norm is that most people drink responsibly. Through social norms marketing, you get the message out that most students are behaving responsibly.”
Stettes said the two-year partnership began when the college association came to the brewing company asking them to help with responsible celebrating during the basketball tournaments.
“It’s difficult to understand how anyone could object to a positive message to encourage anyone to be responsible,” she said. “It’s all about respecting yourself and respecting the law and it’s hard to object to a positive message like that.”
Cheryl Fields, director of public affairs for the college association, said colleges are trying to tackle the issue of college drinking in any way that works.
“There’s no way you’re going to solve the problem of drinking without involving the beverages of drinking,” she said. “We’ve gotten a really positive response from our campuses.”
Bonnie Reece, a professor of advertising at MSU, said it’s too early to tell if the social campaign-style commercials work.
“I think that it’s in the best interest of the brewers or the distillers to encourage safe drinking,” she said. “It shows good corporate social responsibility. They don’t want to be associated with binge drinking and drunk driving accidents.”
Jasmine Greenamyer, health educator for Olin Health Center, said she doesn’t think the advertisement encourages excessive drinking and understands why the university worked with the brewery.
“I think we do need to work together to establish what are healthy and responsible drinking habits,” she said.
But some MSU students questioned whether the brewery is really working to solve the problem.
“I think that a Budweiser ad, is a Budweiser ad before anything,” said Colin Hoag, an English and Spanish senior. “Any commercial that plugs their own name then says ‘Drink responsibly,’ - I don’t buy into that a bit.”
Staff writer Ed Ronco contributed to this report. Chad Previch can be reached at previchc@msu.edu.
