“You Serious Clark?â€-Cousin Eddie, Christmas Vacation
It often seems the crazies come out in greater numbers at Christmas time than Halloween. According to a recent article in Online Media Daily:
Watchdog organization Center for Science in the Public Interest has filed a complaint with the Beer Institute–a trade association and lobbying group that publishes self-regulatory guidelines for beer marketers–about the “Running of the Santas” pub crawl. The complaint, which was forwarded to the Federal Trade Commission, alleges that beer companies’ sponsorship of the event, as well as web ads touting Santa-themed pub crawls in 25 cities, run afoul of Beer Institute rules prohibiting depictions of Santa Claus in marketing material. The watchdog’s complaint mentions beer brands owned by Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors and argues that sponsorship of the holiday-themed pub crawl is problematic, as is the use of beer brand logos in ads.
What’s next, a demand to end all Toga-themed parties because they tarnish the image of ancient Greece? While wasting time, energy and money fighting imaginary battles, like Santa pub crawls and the “War on Christmas†(as discussed last year in my Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays post), certain interest groups are missing the mark on where they’re truly needed. Like, I don’t know…maybe helping to end poverty, genocide or starvation? Ironically, a portion of the pub crawl’s profits are donated to charity.
How is a Santa-themed pub crawl one random night any worse than the materialism, commercialism and outright bourgeois nature that Santa takes on for months in department stores every year? If Coors or Bud were sponsoring the running of the baby Jesus pub crawl, well then maybe you’d have my support.
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.
