How American Brands Are Celebrating America’s Birthday—Or Aren’t

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 atten