The controversial Pabst Blue Ribbon advertisements will no longer be seen on Madison Metro buses due to the company’s decision not to renew its recently expired contract.
Metro Transit had nothing to do with the removal of the ads, according to Metro Transit spokesperson Mich Rusch. The contract simply expired and PBR never renewed.
However, Rusch said the PBR ads received many complaints because they looked liked beer trucks. UW Transportation asked the buses be kept off campus and many parents of middle and high school students complained about the buses driving past schools.
“We had complaints that ... [the PBR buses] would go past schools, middle schools and high schools,” Rusch said. “There were a lot of concerns from parents.”
Rusch added the 2011 PBR ads were “artistic” and received no complaints, “whereas the ones this year just sorta caught your eye” because of their resemblance to beer trucks.
According to Rusch, beer ads cannot be banned because of free speech and, since the ads were from a third-party vendor, they were allowed to be released without input from Metro.
Metro switched to an “in-house” advertising team this year, which allows them to control what vendors they pitch to and will give them a say regarding the content of ads.
Rusch said if PBR were to contact Metro now, it would be possible to work together to “find ads that would be acceptable to the community.”
“We can’t say no to [beer ads], but [the in-house ad team] is how we can better address it,” said Rusch.
