People in college drink. People on Facebook post pictures. A contest in which Molson gives away a trip to Cancun for students posting their best pictures of themselves drinking Molson beer seems like a natural fit for a promotion right? That was likely the discussion had before launching such a campaign.

Unfortunately it seems no one within Molson bothered to realize what such a contest might look like to those on the outside – that they were unintentionally promoting binge drinking, which as we’ve all heard – or experienced – is a major problem on college campuses. The complaints started rolling in and Molson was forced to end the contest early – though they will still pick a winner.

Despite Molson’s lack of foresight in seeing a potential problem with this particular contest, I actually think the idea behind the contest is a really smart one: using a social network’s community to do your advertising for you. We’ll be seeing a lot more of this going forward.