Red Stripe Turns It's Back on Live Dancehall and Reggae Music

Red Stripe recently revealed that it will not be sponsoring any live shows, and has therefore revealed that it has parted ways with live shows such as Reggae Sumfest and Sting. Both events were tagged by Red Stripe Beer and Ginuness respectively. Show with is in mind I can safely assume that there wont be any Red Stripe Temptation during the popular A.T.I weekend in Negril this year. Copy of Red Stripe Press Release (below)

RED STRIPE STATEMENT RE MUSIC EVENTS

Jamaica has a rich cultural and musical heritage that has earned the country much international acclaim through the years. Our Jamaican musicians are among the best and most talented in the world. The Jamaican music industry has contributed to building economic and social life in Jamaica, and for that we are very proud.

It is for this very positive reason, that for decades Red Stripe has sought to associate its brands with Jamaican music. The Red Stripe Company has maintained a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the music industry and together we have worked very hard with promoters and artistes to uphold globally acceptable standards.

Over the years, however, a very negative trend of glorifying violence has crept into some of the music, causing much consternation among well thinking Jamaicans and others at home and abroad. This has far-reaching and damaging implications for the industry and for the country as a whole.

While our most recent efforts through the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors have met with some measure of success, some performers continue to propagate, through their live performances, violent and anti-social lyrics. Red Stripe will not be party to this, and thus we have taken the very difficult decision of withdrawing sponsorship from live music events. Consequently, Red Stripe will not renew our contract for title sponsorship of Reggae Sumfest and Sting. We will, however, ensure that our brands are made available whenever and wherever our loyal consumers enjoy premium alcohol beverages.

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. 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.

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SOURCE:

reggae