July 1976 wasn’t exactly a moment of unity in America, coming just after Roe v. Wade, Watergate, and the end of the Vietnam War. Nonetheless, the nation’s bicentennial was a display of patriotic capitalism. IBM released a bicentennial punch card. 7-Up had a series of cans that could be stacked into an Uncle Sam pyramid if you collected them all. Cadillac released a 1976 Eldorado Bicentennial Edition, complete with red and blue pinstripes. There were even all-American condoms with the slogan “One Time for Old Glory.”
“Like a sudden swarm of 200-year locusts, commemorative kitsch is appearing everywhere: plates, mugs and glasses decaled with an eagle or the likeness of George Washington or John Adams or the flag or Archibald Willard’s familiar Revolutionary fife-and-drum trio,” a 1975 article in Time magazine reported. Brand America was all over the place—to the point that some deemed the nation’s 200th birthday the “buy-centennial.”
“Commercialism was a big theme, and a big critique, of the bicentennial,” the historian Beverly Gage told me.
America’s 250th birthday has felt more restrained, brand-wise. The anniversary comes at a time when companies have become wary of sending any sort of political message. A few years ago, many were posting black squares on “Blackout Tuesday” or spending millions of dollars on Pride celebrations. Now corporate America is more likely to stay silent on anything deemed risky—even, in some cases, celebrating our nation’s founding. Patriotism can still sell in 2026, but not like it used to.
Granted, in a certain sense, the 250th celebration is a corporate event. America250, the bipartisan initiative that is coordinating semiquincentennial celebrations, lists 68 official sponsors on its website. Among them are most of the major U.S.-based airlines; a number of heavy-hitting restaurant chains, including Starbucks and Chick-fil-A; and supercenters such as Walmart and Target. But the majority of these companies don’t seem to be drawing much attention to their America250 partnerships. Starbucks, for instance, hasn’t released any branded products or announced any special events. The company’s involvement with America250, or even the nation’s 250th celebration in general, seems to start and end with its contribution to America Gives, an America250 program that is “designed to make 2026 the largest year of volunteerism in U.S. history.” The same is true for Chick-fil-A and Target, except that Target also appears to be selling at least one America250 shirt online. What could be taken as humble generosity might also be seen as brand protection in today’s political climate. (I contacted spokespeople for all three brands, but none would speak on the record.)
Compare these brand exercises to what’s going on with the other big event happening this summer. The 250th birthday falls at the same time as the U.S.-hosted World Cup. Companies such as Levi’s, McDonald’s, and Old Navy are mass-producing World Cup products, while skimping on 250 merchandise. For instance, Old Navy is selling two clothing designs celebrating the semiquincentennial; by comparison, the company is offering nearly 200 World Cup products. In addition to service initiatives, many companies seem to be favoring experiences over 250-branded merchandise. In 1976, Levi Strauss gave away “Denimachines”—red, white, and blue Ford vans filled with goodies. This year, it opened an exhibit about the company’s history at its San Francisco headquarters. Some companies are offering small promotions—a $2.50 Burger King Whopper Jr., limited-edition birthday-cake Cheerios, an American-blueberry coffee creamer from Chobani. Jeep is going bigger, selling an America250 Wrangler, but it’s something of an outlier. Other brands, including Patagonia and Visa, aren’t touting any 250 campaigns or collaborations.
[David Frum: Trump’s 250th celebration is a fiasco]
This muted approach isn’t exactly surprising. Americans as a whole are less patriotic than they used to be. This summer, a record-low 53 percent of U.S. adults said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, according to a new Gallup poll from this week. The American flag and other patriotic symbols have become heavily politicized. The Gallup poll underscores this: 69 percent of Republicans reported displaying the American flag, whereas only 26 percent of Democrats did. In 1986, those numbers were 50 and 42 percent, a much smaller divide.
“I think there are all sorts of symbols that were supposed to be unifying symbols—the flag, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ the date 1776,” Gage said. “All of these have now been branded right-wing in one manner or another, and so there’s some reclaiming that needs to happen for people who don’t want to give up those symbols to that particular politics.” Gage recently published This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History, after observing that Americans seemed ambivalent about their country’s upcoming birthday. “I wasn’t sure that there would be much coming from on high, and by which I mean either from the federal government or from commercial outlets,” she said.
Some brands might have chosen to remain quieter for America’s 250th birthday because the celebration seems very Trump-ified. Although America250 was authorized by Congress, last year the Trump administration created a rival organization, Freedom 250, whose offerings have been more partisan. President Trump has made a point to get his face or name onto pretty much everything he can related to the 250th: a 24-karat-gold collector’s coin complete with a depiction of Trump at his desk; a limited-edition “patriot passport” with an image of Trump scowling next to the equally timeless image of the Founding Fathers signing the Declaration of Independence. Although it hasn’t been approved, Trump-administration officials have pushed for the creation of a $250 bill featuring his portrait. By contrast, President Gerald Ford didn’t put his image all over official bicentennial merchandise in 1976.
One major exception to the shy-guy approach to commercial patriotism is Coca-Cola. “We as a company are beyond excited about this,” Shakir Moin, Coca-Cola’s president of marketing for North America, told me. Moin was one of only two representatives at major companies who agreed to speak with me on the record, out of the 10 that I contacted for an interview. Brands, he said, have a “cultural responsibility to show the best of America.” Moin did in fact sound excited when I spoke with him. At one point, he insisted that I watch Coca-Cola’s America250 commercial in the middle of our call. A new version of “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” played in the background, as a montage of all-American scenes went on for three minutes: A teenage couple kissed on a lakefront; a crew of friends floated lazily down a creek in inner tubes; a dad and son sat chatting on a hay bale; people danced at a honky-tonk. An America250 logo flashed at the end. I involuntarily let out an “aww” as Moin smiled with pride. On top of the commercial, Coca-Cola is hiring local artists to paint 50 murals across the country this year—one in every state—and has released a line of collectible state-branded cans.
I asked Moin if he was worried about going all in on patriotism during a time like this. He told me that America and Coca-Cola are both “passionately optimistic,” so it only made sense to celebrate. Moin said he’d shown the ad campaign to multiple sample audiences before launching. “In every single one of them, I would have people in tears,” he said, adding that Coca-Cola hasn’t received negative feedback on the marketing campaign.
Even if they aren’t official sponsors of America250, brands can benefit “tremendously” from patriotic products, Mark Hellendrung, the president of Narragansett Beer, told me. His company has brought back its bicentennial can for the big 250th and has stickered 100 of the limited-edition cans, Willy Wonka–style; anyone who gets their hands on one will receive a themed prize pack, and one lucky winner will get a vacation to Boston for the 250 celebration, including a pub crawl in the Boston seaport district. “We got a complaint or two about it, but we got a compliment or five or 5,000,” Hellendrung said. “In addition to the whole patriotism side of it, they love the aesthetic design of it.”
[Beverly Gage: I took to the road and found hope for America]
Some research actually supports Moin and Hellendrung’s thinking. A 2024 study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that 93 percent of American consumers would view companies well or very well if they are publicly involved in the country’s 250th-birthday celebrations. The same study found that 86 percent of Americans think that Independence Day should be more important than it currently is. Gage, for one, isn’t convinced that consumers care much about semiquincentennial marketing one way or the other, though. “There probably just wasn’t a whole lot of incentive to take action and do the kind of planning you would need to have to have a big campaign,” she said.
Even if Americans are ready to celebrate the 250th, that’s no guarantee that they want to do it by spending big on rebranded consumer goods. Maybe throwing a bald eagle on a beer can will help companies win over customers. Or maybe a bald eagle on a beer can is just a bald eagle on a beer can.
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