USC Ended Partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev in April; Ohio State and San Diego State Should Follow Suit

I have been informed by the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work that the School and its research team that had been involved in the Smart Drinking Goals project terminated its involvement with the project in April 2018 and that they are no longer associated in any way with the project.

The USC team had prepared toolkits summarizing the best current scientific thinking regarding environmental strategies for alcohol prevention. Although the team's involvement was apparently slated to last at least through 2018, they terminated their involvement in April and have completely disassociated themselves from the Smart Drinking Goals project.

I applaud USC and this research team for dissociating from the project.

The Rest of the Story

To the best of my knowledge, the Ohio State University is still involved with the Smart Drinking Goals program, and in addition, since yesterday I have learned that San Diego State University also seems to be involved with the program. Both of these institutions should immediately follow the lead and example set by USC and terminate their involvement with this project and their partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev.

While public-private partnerships are sometimes tenable, in this case, you cannot have a credible partnership when the private corporation is bullying and disrespecting the autonomy of governments to implement their own public health measures to prevent excessive alcohol use and its associated harms. I cannot fathom an academic institution partnering with a company that went so far as to threaten a lawsuit against the city of Rostov in order to force it to allow the sale of beer at the World Cup soccer matches in Rostov Arena. Obviously, this completely undermines the supposed "smart drinking goals" initiative and exposes it for what it really is: a public relations hoax.

I have since learned that San Diego State University has apparently also partnered with Anheuser-Busch InBev to aid this public relations initiative. According to the university, it accepted a $200,000 grant from the alcohol corporation to be a part of the "implementation planning" for the Smart Drinking Goals project.

This grant completely exposes the hypocrisy of the alcohol company and demonstrates why this whole project is a hoax. Ironically, part of the San Diego State University project is to develop programs to reduce excessive alcohol consumption in sports arenas! Now you can see why this is a complete joke. At the same time that the company is, out of one side of its mouth, proclaiming that it cares about reducing alcohol consumption at sports arenas, from the other side of its mouth it is threatening to sue cities in order to force them to sell alcohol and facilitate excessive alcohol consumption in their sports arenas!

This hypocrisy boggles the mind, and it demonstrates that the Smart Drinking Goals program is not a sincere effort to address public health concerns but instead, a public relations hoax.

Hopefully, Ohio State and San Diego State will follow the example set by USC and immediately terminate their partnerships with Anheuser-Busch InBev.