Major corporations reluctant to make a splash at the 2024 political conventions
Normally risk-averse companies are considering whether attaching their brand to the political conventions is worth the potential backlash.
The president of the progressive civil rights group Color of Change has a message for corporations that are considering participating in this summer’s Republican National Convention: Don’t even think about it.
Rashad Robinson said his group is preparing to launch a campaign against any company that announces a sponsorship of the coronation of Donald Trump as the Republican Party’s nominee in Milwaukee in July.
“I want to make it clear that this is something we are paying attention to,” said Robinson, who ran a similar pressure campaign against corporations in 2016. “If we see these companies moving in a different direction, we absolutely won’t let it go.”
Robinson’s threat underscores the danger for the normally risk-averse corporations that may be considering sponsoring this summer’s political conventions. In this polarized political climate, a company may decide that attaching its brand to either party may not offer enough gain to offset a public backlash.
NBC News interviewed more than 15 major corporate fundraisers and consultants with corporate clients. Many expressed concern over a charged political climate that they worry could backfire on their brand or where an investment would not pay off. Some said they feared being tied to Trump, given the litany of criminal charges against the former president. Others said the environment is too fragile, given the unrest exploding at college campuses across the country.
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