A tuition give-away contest might seem like a sweet deal to some, but at least one professor at the University of Saskatchewan wants it banned from campus.
Dr. Pepper is giving away six individual prizes of $1,000 cash to U of S students.
According to a promotional poster, students receive an entry ballot with every purchase of a 591 ml Dr. Pepper.
While contestants can enter once online without buying the product, associate history professor Angela Kalinowski said the promotion sends a strong message about consumption.
“Saying to students…’Consume more incredibly sugary beverages and then you have more chances to win,'” she said.
Kalinowski acknowledged students are adults who can make their own decisions, but told 650 CKOM she doesn’t believe the promotion has a place at the U of S.
“The university is a publicly-funded institution, so we have some obligation to promote healthy behaviour on campus,” she said.
“I’m not fostering a sort of belief in the nanny state or the nanny university – telling everybody what they should and shouldn’t do – but clearly there are health problems associated with excessive consumption.”
The professor pointed to post-secondary institutions in the U.S. that are taking an even firmer stance on pop.
In 2015, the University of California in San Francisco became the first college in the U.S. to stop the sale of sugary drinks on campus.
Kalinowski said she would have no objection to seeing the same happen at the U of S.