[Get our Twitter updates here. and tune in to KMOX now (4:20 pm Tuesday) to hear us chat about Fan Cans.]

Anheuser-Busch complied with a request from the chancellor of the University of Missouri to pull black and gold Bud Light Fan Cans from store shelves and cease production of the product last week.

The Fan Cans use the team colors of various universities. That has prompted accusations of encouraging underage drinking and suspicions that the program puts A-B on the wrong side of trademark law. (A-B disputes both points).

In any case, cans have been pulled from shelves at a bunch of different schools as the promotion has become a PR headache for Anheuser-Busch.

“Anytime you try something new, it will gain contention,” Dave Peacock, president of Anheuser-Busch, told Lager Heads Tuesday. Peacock acknowledged that the program has stirred up more “feedback” than the company was expecting. But he argued that the program has “done well” in communities in which it’s been well-coordinated with various constituencies.

On Aug. 28, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton asked A-B to cease the promotion around the school. In his letter, Deaton said that the Fan Cans convey the impression that Mizzou supported the marketing effort, although the university had not approved the cans.

He asked A-B to immediately terminate the “completely unacceptable” program, which he claimed is “infringing upon the university’s identity and reputation.” He also questioned whether A-B was targeting students with the marketing program.

A-B responded on Sept. 9 via letter. The brewer said it did not believe that it had infringed any rights or “created any confusion” with the colored cans. But A-B backed down from a bigger confrontation. The company said it would end the Fan Can campaign in Columbia in the near future.

“In light of our long-standing friendship with Mizzou, and in order to avoid a dispute over the concerns raised by your letter, the Fan Cans program in such color combinations will be ended in your community in the near future,” A-B attorney Scott Miller told Deaton.

Miller pointed out that A-B has the right to create and utilize “point-of-sale materials” bearing the Mizzou logo. He also wrote that Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have spent more than $750 million since 1982 to help prevent alcohol abuse, including underage drinking and drunk driving.

“Anheuser-Busch values its relationships with the collegiate community and looks forward to continuing to work cooperatively with the University of Missouri in future endeavors,” Miller wrote. “Anheuser-Busch has a longstanding commitment to promoting responsible drinking. Our company’s position on college drinking is clear: if students are 21 or older and choose to drink, we want them to do so responsibly. If they are under 21, we want them to respect the law and not drink.”