Bud Pong: Despicable
Sick & Wrong Department
| October 20, 2005
| Tim
Look, I understand college students will often try to drink each other into oblivion, and that's life. But for a corporate sponsor, one who wants us to think they care about "drinking responsible", to be promoting such behavior is despicable:
This past summer, Anheuser-Busch unveiled a game it calls Bud Pong. The company, which makes Budweiser, is promoting Bud Pong tournaments and providing Bud Pong tables, balls and glasses to distributors in 47 markets, including college towns like Oswego, N.Y., and Clemson, S.C. ... "It's catching on like wildfire," Ms. Katz said. "We created it as an icebreaker for young adults to meet each other."
And they clearly think we're stupid:
But Ms. Katz said Bud Pong was not intended for underage drinkers because promotions were held in bars, not on campuses. And it does not promote binge drinking, she said, because official rules call for water to be used, not beer. The hope is that those on the sidelines enjoy a Bud.
Right. Which is why it's named "Perrier Pong".
I have a huge reserve of affection for most beer companies, having spent most my life in beer towns (Milwaukee, St. Louis). But there's a vast difference between selling a product which can potentially be abused, and directly encouraging abuse as a way to move product. Who cares if young people get hurt? As long as we make a profit!!!
Each year, drinking by college students, ages 18 to 24, contributes to an estimated 1,700 student deaths, 600,000 injuries, 700,000 assaults and more than 90,000 sexual assaults.
Go Bud Pong! Yay!!!
Sure Budweiser wants you drink responsibly! And they also want you believe drinking games are played with... water!
Boycott Budweiser.
This is stupid. Everyone is going to play Bei Rut anyways. The fact that the event IS held in a bar shows that they are NOT trying to attract underage drinkers. All of my underage friends and I play with water and drink on the side anyways because it is cleaner that way. The beer makes the table sticky and you don't have to have an extra ball cleaning cup on the side. Also, the vast majority of my friends are pretty responsible and will not drive after more than one or two beers, and even then, it's only the 45 second drive to the parking lot.
The fact that the event IS held in a bar shows that they are NOT trying to attract underage drinkers.
Ummm... where did I say they were trying to attract underage drinkers?
All of my underage friends and I play with water and drink on the side anyways...
So the game doesn't encourage underage drinking, and your evidence is that you and your underage friends play it... while drinking?
Also, the vast majority of my friends are pretty responsible and will not drive after more than one or two beers, and even then, it's only the 45 second drive to the parking lot.
They're responsible because they don't drive. Except they do. But it's not very long. Because it's to the parking lot. To pick up their... cars...?
And these admitted underage drinkers were at a... bar?
Which is evidenced that this game wouldn't attract underage drinkers because it's promoted at ... bars?
Truly, people need to reread and think about their comments before they submit them.
I don't think the company wants you to drink irresponsibly. Kids are just dumb and they drink and drive. It's not because they are soliciting to college students. People will play beer pong anyway.
I don't think the company wants you to drink irresponsibly.
No, they just want you to drink as much as possible.
It's a bit like Exxon with the Valdez oil spill: they didn't want to pollute the environment. They merely hated to reprimand a drunk sea captain. Dumping a ton of oil into the waters off Alaska was just a side effect, not the intended goal.
People will play beer pong anyway.
Gee: Tell Bud that. They don't seem to think so. If "people will do it anyway" then why are they promoting it?
And if it doesn't lead to more drinking, then, again, ask yourself: Why are they promoting it?
And if people will "play beer pong anyway" then why wasn't it popular even a decade or so ago? Or weren't you aware of that? Or do you imagine that beer companies' promotion of this "sport" has nothing to do with that?
(And perhaps Las Vegas dollars have nothing to do with poker now showing up as a "sport" on ESPN -- despite it's being less of a "sport" than even a game of chess?)
People are unbelievably naive. Here you have a multi-mega-billion dollar company, with tons of reasearch and expertise about how to promote its product. And they bet that encouraging "drinking games" will increase consumption of their product.
Then, you have a kid -- surely a nice person, but just a bit trusting -- who is absolutely sure that it won't. Who would you bet on?
I would bet the beer company is right.
I'm not really against beer. I don't mind beer ads: a beer or two never killed anyone, and most of that is just competing for brand loyalty among existing drinkers. And sometimes they're the funniest thing you'll see on television.
But paying money to direct students towards drinking games is another matter altogether.
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This is stupid. Everyone is going to play Bei Rut anyways. The fact that the event IS held in a bar shows that they are NOT trying to attract underage drinkers. All of my underage friends and I play with water and drink on the side anyways because it is cleaner that way. The beer makes the table sticky and you don't have to have an extra ball cleaning cup on the side. Also, the vast majority of my friends are pretty responsible and will not drive after more than one or two beers, and even then, it's only the 45 second drive to the parking lot.
Posted by: Jeshua on April 28, 2006 10:48 AM