Say Goodbye to the Mizzou "Fan Can"

Anheuser-Busch yesterday agreed to stop producing the black-and-gold Mizzou Bud Light "fan cans" that were a source of concern to the university's administration because they were said to promote underage drinking.

In a letter to Mizzou chancellor Brady Deaton, the brewery promised to discontinue the cans in "the near future." A-B's letter was in response to one that Deaton sent last month complaining that the cans "infring[ed] on the university's name and reputation." On the same day Deaton sent his letter, freshman quarterback Blaine Dalton was dismissed from the team because he had been charged with a DWI.

Despite the administration's disapproval, the Columbia Missourian reports that the cans have been a rousing success around the university; on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the day of the Mizzou-Illinois "Arch Rival" game, several grocery stores in Columbia were all sold out.

"I think they promote school spirit," one Mizzou fan told the Missourian.

Nonetheless, A-B will stop manufacturing the cans in the interest of preserving its relationship with the university.

Mizzou was not the only university to complain about the "fan cans". Of the 27 schools the brewery chose to honor, 25 registered complaints, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

A-B has agreed to pull the promotion at several other universities, including Indiana University, Texas A & M, Clemson and Purdue, which, since its colors are also black and gold, would have seemed a likely location for the brewery to send its spare cans.