Beer advertisements were hard to miss during the just-finished NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Bud Light’s “dude” television ads seemed to run during every timeout. Now a group of college presidents and athletics directors is fighting back at the “embarrassingly prominent” TV spots.
More than 100 of the presidents and AD’s have sent a letter to the NCAA’s president, Myles Brand, to urge the association to review its policies on alcohol advertising. “NCAA allowance of beer advertising serves to enrich broadcasters unnecessarily,” they wrote, “at the expense of the values of sport and higher education.”
The NCAA is exceeding its own limits on beer ads, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. While only 120 seconds of beer ads are allowed in any telecast, the center counted 270 seconds in the Monday-night final of the men’s tournament. —Paul Fain
