By Tonia Moxley
Despite efforts by Tech officials, the orange and maroon cans are still on Blacksburg store shelves.
Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times
A woman drinks a Bud Light "Team Pride" beer while tailgating before a Virginia Tech football game. Officials worry the cans encourage underage drinking.
BLACKSBURG -- Anheuser-Busch's controversial "Team Pride" promotional campaign never really got started in Blacksburg.
But the orange and maroon Bud Light "Fan Cans" can still be found on store shelves and are finding their way into the hands of tailgating Hokie football fans, including underage drinkers.
They remain for sale despite an effort by Virginia Tech officials to have their production ceased. Tech joined many colleges across the country in protesting the campaign when it was announced in August.
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said Thursday he was surprised to hear the beer cans were still being sold.
"It appears to me Anheuser-Busch is not honoring their commitment to us," Hincker said.
But, he allowed, it's possible the cans still on store shelves might have been shipped before the university contacted the company with its objections.
"They might be leftovers," Hincker said.
The cans, which were manufactured in more than 20 color combinations resembling various college football team colors, are not licensed by the universities. Officials at the University of Michigan threatened to sue over cans sold in that market, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Tech, "like most large American schools, struggles with student binge drinking," Hincker wrote in an Aug. 27 letter to Anheuser-Busch.
"Dropping orange and maroon beer cans into the small town of Blacksburg is akin to an attractive nuisance. You must know that college students, of age or under age, will flock to them."
In a return letter, Anheuser-Busch lawyer Scott Miller said the cans would be pulled from the Blacksburg market.
But 24-packs priced at $14.99 were still being manufactured in October, according to dates stamped on cases available for sale this week at the Kroger store on Blacksburg's South Main Street.
Miller could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
James Crawford, 19, was cited by Blacksburg police for underage possession of alcohol on Oct. 29 while walking toward Lane Stadium for the kickoff of the Tech-North Carolina game.
"Look, this encourages underage drinking," Crawford said, pointing to the orange-and-maroon-striped Bud Light can with which police caught him. "It's Hokie football."
Tech has licensed other alcoholic beverages, however.
Hokie Bird Red and Hokie Bird White wines produced by Chateau Morrisette in Floyd County are widely available across the New River Valley.
"Frankly that's not the kind of thing students drink," Hincker said. "People aren't going to go out and abuse that wine. Beer is just a different product."
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