Alka-Seltzer cancels speed-eating sponsorship

When does a sponsorship make too much sense? When Alka-Seltzer sponsors the U.S. championship of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, that’s when. Apparently, Alka-Seltzer , made by Bayer AG, sponsored the event last year, and now that execs back at the company’s German headquarters have found out what their U.S. counterparts have been up to, they’ve cancelled any plans for continuing the association. Of course, representatives of IFOCE (should such an organization even deserve an acronym?) are claiming that speed-eating—as illustrated by the world champion’s ability to swallow 57 cow brains in 15 minutes—is a sport.