Red Stripe has reiterated its strong support for the music industry. In recent weeks, there has been a negative campaign surrounding the beer giant's announcement that it will pull its sponsorship from live events until the quality of the lyrics has improved.

Reliable sources divulged that in keeping with its contractual obligations to Summerfest Productions, the organisers of Reggae Sumfest, the sponsorship fees would be paid over. It is understood that more than US$300,000 (J$21.3 million) was included in the contract and that Red Stripe would honour this agreement.

The contract clearly states that a large portion of sponsorship must be paid at signing, an instalment in July and the remainder after the event has been staged.

First payment made

According to the sources, Red Stripe has made the first payment and is following through with the remaining portions.

For more than five years, Red Stripe has been the title sponsor for the reggae festival and has been a major sponsor for many live events including Sting, Reggae Campfire, Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival and Bacchanal Jamaica. Despite pleading with the artistes to tone down the violent lyrical content in their music over the years, the response has been the same, a constant breach of contractual obligations to the beer company.

Seeing the need to set a certain standard for both performances and event execution and management, Red Stripe became instrumental in forming a coalition to ensure that the artistes abide by the code when performing. Each time the code was infringed by one or several artistes, the beer giant then took a firm stance to withdraw its sponsorship from all live events until the violent and raunchy lyrics were abandoned.

Last year, through the Live Red campaign, Red Stripe staged several events to the tune of more than $20 million. The Red Summer programme alone had run the company about $8 million.

Clean music

According to sources, the summer campaign will still take place this year and will be even bigger and better than the last.

"There will be many more parties and Red Stripe plans to completely dominate the party scene. People are complaining that Red Stripe has pulled its support from dancehall but what they don't realise is that at all of these events, it is 'fit-for-airplay' dancehall music that is constantly being played," the source said.

When contacted, Maxine Whittingham-Osborne, head of corporate communcations at Red Stripe, continued to affirm the company's position.

"We stand by our decision and the statement that was issued. At this time, Red Stripe's position is that we will not sponsor live music performances. Red Stripe is willing to review its position if and when we see an improvement in the lyrical content of some of the music," Whittingham-Osborne said.

"We are currently exploring new marketing initiatives that we believe will enliven the party landscape and demonstrate our continued allegiance to the entertainment industry," she added.

She was quick to point out that Red Stripe's support extends far beyond entertainment to cover many other areas.

Support for football

"Don't forget our strong support of the Reggae Boyz over the years, our continued contributions to the sectors of health, education, sport and to the economy," she said.

"As an alcohol company, we promote responsible drinking, not because it is good for us but because it is good for Jamaica and our consumers. It is in this vein, as a good corporate citizen, why we cannot allow ourselves to partner with any event that may end up being coloured or marred by violence, foul lyrics or attacks on any group, even though these events would lead to more exposure for our brand and increase the bottom line. We have to be responsible," she stated.