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Red Stripe Drops Sumfest Sponsorship

Author: Rhythmwize (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: 04-07-08 10:06

Sumfest: Red Stripe is officially announcing it WILL no longer sponsor any live music events, not just Sumfest.

Red Stripe's decision means the withdrawal of thousands of dollars in sponsorship from Sumfest.

The company had also been sponsoring a Boxing Day music event, Sting.

Red Stripe cited what it called a worrying and negative trend of glorifying violence at the music events.

Red Stripe said the violence laden music, as it called it, had far-reaching and damaging implications for the industry and for Jamaica as a whole.

Red Stripe corporate relations director Maxine Wittingham-Osborne told Radio Jamaica that the move came despite efforts by the company and other corporate sponsors to maintain globally acceptable standards.

"We have noticed that there is a negative trend that has been creeping into some of the music, and it's a trend of glorifying violence. This is very damaging to our culture, the music and to our country as a whole and we at Red Stripe have tried to help the promoters and the artistes to raise the standard of the music. We attempted this through the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors. While we have had some measure of success through the Coalition, we believe it has not gone far enough to inspire change and so we think that the time is right for us to actually take a stand in the interest of our country and people," Radio Jamaica's site reported Wittingham-Osborne said.

Summerfest Productions chairman Robert Russell said he was disappointed with Red Stripe's decision but added that the show would go on. He also thanked Red Stripe for its six years of sponsorship.

Russell told RJR that Red Stripe's parent company "has from time to time been upset with utterances both violent and homophobic (in nature) from our Jamaican artistes. We at Sumfest do not condone any violence against any sector at all and you can understand from a corporate position that they feel that their brand and image could be compromised by some of the utterances."

Red Stripe is now owned by British food and drink company Diageo, which bought it about a decade ago from Jamaica's Desnoes and Geddes -- meaning it can now be considered, depending on your interpretation, a UK company rather than a Jamaican firm, even though we think of Stripe being one of the ultimate symbols of Jamaican entrepreneurship.

Buju Banton -- one of several Jamaican musicians who have been criticized abroad for their anti-gay lyrics -- is scheduled to sing at Sumfest this year.

What will Red Stripe do with all the marketing dollars it is saving?

The Jamaica Star quotes Whittingham-Osborne as saying that "we will be launching in the very near future a promotional activity that will be linked to the national football program."

Red Stripe also said it might return to music promotion in the future.

"It is our hope that our action will cause the proponents of this destructive trend in local music to stop and take stock of the negative impact of their actions on the society and seek to make a change," Whittingham-Osborne said. "Red Stripe looks forward to the time when good sense will prevail and we can see a return to improved quality and standard of music that all Jamaica can be proud of. At that time we will review our position."

Sting promoter Isaiah Laing wouldn't comment on the move. "I am not ready to respond," he told the Star.