Several major companies are choosing to not sponsor this year's Republican National Convention

The floor during the 2012 Republican National Convention.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 17 June 2016

What do Ford, Motorola, UPS, and Wells Fargo have in common? They've all decided not to sponsor the Republican National Convention during the year of Donald Trump.

The companies all sponsored the 2012 convention in Tampa. None of them would tell Bloomberg Politics if their decision to sit out this year had anything to do with Trump, and some said they made their choice well before Trump was the presumptive nominee. In Ford's case, it would have been an awkward sponsorship, considering Trump has repeatedly called the company out for planning to build a plant in Mexico. "It's a question of balancing the desire to be present at the convention versus brand association with one figure who is so polarizing," Bruce Haynes, a Republican media consultant, told Bloomberg Politics. "That's why the decision is so difficult, when otherwise it's so easy."

Some companies are coming back — the American Petroleum Institute was a major donor in 2012, and said it plans to participate this year. Facebook, Twitter, Google, AT&T, and Cisco have also previously said they will offer technical services free of charge. Emily Lauer, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland host committee, said they are trying to raise $64 million for the convention, and already have commitments of roughly $50.5 million in cash and $7 million in free products and services.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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