Drinking Your Way to Financial Success

Promoting Binge Drinking?

Selling a line of products that is often linked with heavy drinking is not an easy task. Companies can come under harsh criticism and have been accused of encouraging binge drinking.

Most major corporations have steered away from manufacturing or selling drinking games.

Beer giant Anheuser-Busch tried sponsoring a series of beer pong events across the country in July 2005. To avoid backlash, it called the game Bud Pong and told its distributors to substitute water for beer. Bars had Bud Pong-branded tables, balls and glasses.

The New York Times even printed a story about the Bud Pong events.

"It's catching on like wildfire," an Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman said in the story. "We created it as an icebreaker for young adults to meet each other."

But the promotion was short-lived.

The Times story also pointed out that nobody was using water to play the game and suggested that the game encouraged binge drinking.

Two days later the beer-maker pulled the promotion, saying it had learned that bars were not using water, but actually letting patrons play the game with beer.

"It has come to our attention that despite our explicit guidelines, there may have been instances where this promotion was not carried out in the manner it was intended," the same Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman said when the game was pulled.

A year later, department store giant Kohl's was targeted by organizations that advocate responsible marketing of alcohol and related products for selling drinking games in its stores.

Bing Bong's Schmidt said he understands the concerns.

"We're trying to preach responsibility, and the game is actually at a leisurely pace compared to other drinking games," Schmidt said. "College drinking is not a new thing, and outlawing a table is not going to change problem drinkers from problem drinking and responsible drinkers from drinking responsibility."

Other companies also know about the perception.

Get Bombed, a company that makes brightly colored ping pong balls and racks to keep beer pong cups aligned, refused to talk about its game, which sells for $14.99.

In an e-mail to ABC News, a company representative wrote, "Since there seems to be a lot of controversy and ignorance towards the game, I hope you can appreciate our cautious approach."