Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
The nation’s biggest beer maker just broke up with Pride.
St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch has ended its 30-year sponsorship of the city’s PrideFest, leaving organizers facing a $150,000 shortfall. The decision comes after Bud Light’s sales plummeted following last year’s transgender influencer partnership.
The timing isn’t random. Pride festivals nationwide are seeing corporate support dwindle, with San Francisco Pride losing up to $300,000 in sponsorships with Comcast and Diageo joining the exodus there.
Pride St. Louis President Marty Zuniga called the brewery’s exit “like a bad breakup,” as reported by St. Louis Public Radio. The group also admitted “many sponsors” have dropped out.
The beer giant’s pull-back mirrors a broader corporate exodus. Ford, Harley-Davidson, and Lowe’s recently withdrew from the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index, as reported by The Associated Press.
FOLLOW PAUL on a tour & cruise through Greece this fall.
“We’re still proud. We started 45 years ago as a protest, and now it’s a parade,” Zuniga said. “Maybe we need to protest again this year and take it back to what it started with, to remind people of why we’re where we are today.”
Pride St. Louis said it is “devastated” that the brewery has declined to sponsor the festival after their long partnership.
The future of Pride sponsorships
As for the future of corporate sponsorships, SF Pride executive director Suzanne Ford admits the cultural landscape has now shifted across America, including San Francisco which is seen as one of the nation’s most liberal cities.
“The tone has changed in this country. Businesses already hedge their bets, and I think people who, this isn’t their hard core value of their corporation, maybe they’re rethinking their investment,” Ford said.
Major brands like Walmart, Facebook, McDonald’s, Tractor Supply, Target, and Harley-Davidson are rolling back or have completely abandoned their DEI support.
The parade continues this June at Soldiers Memorial. Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch’s stock has risen since the announcement.
–Dwight Widaman
