No Ordinary Horses Budweiser Clydesdales Draw Crowds, But Some Say It’s Horsefeathers To Call It ‘Family Event’

The first thing to catch your eye is their size - more than 6 feet at the shoulder, weighing a ton each, with haunches bigger than truck fenders.

Then comes the 1903 Studebaker beer wagon with the white-on-red lettering that, according to the endless jingle from the loudspeaker, says it all: Budweiser.

Hundreds of people crowded Washington State University sidewalks and jammed Pullman’s downtown Tuesday to catch a glimpse of the Budweiser Clydesdale horses, one of the most recognizable advertising symbols in the world.

And while local organizers said the horses’ appearance was simply a “family event,” the animals symbolized more to several parents, not to mention one WSU researcher who specializes in the effect of alcohol advertising on the young.

“For parents who don’t come out real strong on alcohol education, it paints a pretty picture” of alcohol consumption, said Vicki Witmer, who came with her children, Brian, 8, and Sarah, 5.

A nurse practitioner for Planned Parenthood, Witmer also questioned whether the horses should be hawking beer to college students when alcohol use is a leading contributor to date rape on campuses.

“We don’t need to encourage them to drink any more than they already do,” she said.

Erica Austin, a communications professor at WSU, said the horses are not as negative as, say, Joe the Camel, the tobacco huckster blamed for encouraging teen smoking.

But their purpose, she said, “is the same as any logo or symbol would be - recognition and a little bit of public relations.”

On that score, Austin’s research shows young people develop favorite brands of beer before they are half the legal drinking age.

By elementary school, “they’ll start associating the symbol with the brand name, which is the intent.”

The eight-horse team, one of three touring the country, moseyed into Pullman between appearances in Montana and Walla Walla. Anheuser-Busch paid for transportation and the seven-member crew - at a cost of $5,000 a day - while Frontier Distributing, a local beverage wholesaler, paid for stabling and advertising.

That included regular announcements and live radio coverage of the horses’ appearance, as well as several Budweiser signs posted along the route through Greek Row.

Les Jasper, Frontier owner, insisted it was only a concern for rush-hour traffic on Main Street that routed the horses past WSU’s fraternities.

“There’s more exposure that way, but because it’s a college campus, we’re trying to downplay the beer,” he said. “We’re not trying to promote beer per se. We’re trying to promote the Clydesdales.”

Some 300 people awaited the team’s arrival on Olsen Street. About one in every four were among the single-digit set.

“They go to places where kids are expected to attend,” George Hacker, director of the alcohol policies project for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said earlier in the day. “They do very little to avoid appealing to kids…. Kids can’t help but associate that symbol with the product and also develop a nice fuzzy feeling for the product as well.”

Lloyd Ferguson, lead driver and supervisor of the team, said Budweiser has steered away from appealing to kids since being criticized for marketing the Spuds McKenzie character in the ‘80s. The company doesn’t sell Clydesdale souvenirs, he said, and Clydesdale shirts are not sold in children’s sizes.

Watching with his 6-year-old daughter, Natalie Rose, Allen Cuddy said he worries more about beer ads on television than a few large horses.

“That’s what the kids see,” he said, “horses.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo