Justice

Budweiser Gives $4.5 Million For Jewish Causes


Obviously I’m aware that the Bronfmans — the most visible Jewish philanthropic family of the modern era — made their money bootlegging and smuggling liquor into the U.S. during prohibition. But I had no idea Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser, were major Jewish philanthropists as well.
The Jewish Federation of St. Louis reports,

Francine Katz, vice president of communications and consumer affairs for Anheuser-Busch, presented a check for $100,000 to Heschel J. Raskas, Ph. D., president of Jewish Federation of St. Louis. “This contribution is not only a sign of Anheuser-Busch’s commitment to Federation, but an investment in the fine work you are doing to improve the lives of so many St. Louisans,” said Katz. “It is truly an honor for us to partner with an organization right here in our hometown that is committed to serving the needs of our community.”
Since 1994, Anheuser-Busch has donated over $1.2 million to the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and total of $4.5 million to Jewish agencies nationwide.
[…] There is a twist to this year’s check presentation, noted Katz. Anatoliy Aronov, a member of A-B’s Controllers Group since January 1999, was born in Moscow, Russia, where he received his Bachelors Degree in Accounting. He moved to the U.S. in 1991, sponsored by Jewish Family & Children’s Service. “Anatoliy has made it a point to give back to those who helped him. Last summer, he volunteered at a JCC camp,” said Katz.

So remember kids, next time you see a fatal alcohol-induced car wreck, or someone you love goes to rehab for their drinking problem, tilt your glass and give thanks, because their substance abuse helped subsidize your local JCC, Jewish summer camp, and birthright trip. And that is, in no way, ethically questionable.
/sarcasm
(c/o Jewish Blogmeister)

12 thoughts on “Budweiser Gives $4.5 Million For Jewish Causes

  1. You are blaming drunk driving on the beer, not whee it belongs, with the automible manufacturer and lobby. I wouldn’t blame the beer company. And I don’t.

  2. i don’t blame the drug. i blame “legal drug” companies, their interests, their strategies, and their influence on drug policy, particularly vis a vis harm reduction.
    drugs aren’t the problem. rather the problem is our so-called socially constructed relationship to drugs. our social behaviors are impacted by corporate advertising that has little interest in promoting safe and responsible alcohol consumption, apart from the infamous illegible tagline. rather, alcohol is marketed by appealing to impulses that trigger our most irrational behaviors, a fact evidenced by the body count constituted by alcohol-related deaths. liquor companies make a killing literally and figuratively by exploiting human weakness. as alcohol-related deaths increase, they encourage drinking and they continuously seek more avenues to encourage drinking to more people and, in particular, more young people.
    certainly every person is responsible for his or her own actions and i’m not at all opposed to responsible drug use. however, because of their scale and their insatiable profit motives, liquor companies perpetuate unhealthy attitudes towards alcohol consumption and take advantage of consumers’ coerced irresponsibility to profit. keeping you blind, stupid drunk is how they keep their bank accounts full.
    which is, to say the least, ethically questionable. to then use that money for “good” does not invalidate the depravity of its source nor the karmic repercussions of deriving benefit from such a source.

  3. Anheuser-Busch isn’t a liquor company. It’s a beer company. And I think you’re out of line in acting like its their fault that some people misuse their product. so they advertise and want consumers. of course they do. it doesn’t make them bad.
    Beer companies don’t create alcoholics anymore than knife companies create suicides.

  4. rights, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. sure, guns make it much easier to kill people. they enable you to kill people. they exist for the sole purpose of killing people. but the gun lobby, which fights for the freedom to own fully automatic assault rifles for “personal” use, says that the responsibility lies with the individual.
    the knife manufacturer isn’t responsible for the suicide, because the intended use of their knife was cooking dinner. the gun manufacturer, however is responsible, because the intended use of their product is shooting people. likewise, the intended use of anheuser-busch’s products is that you get drunk.

  5. Dan, do you think that if we were to return to the use of consciousness-expanding substances, implemented within the framework of sacred ritual, that this would give people the release and/or experience of the transcendent they crave, and that this would reduce or eliminate their dependence upon alcohol?
    You had some interesting ideas a while back along these lines.

  6. Mobius: maybe it’s the DayQuil invading my brain and making me stupid, but I’ve just spent the past half hour searching for your e-mail address, (or anyone here for that matter) as I would like to e-mail you a link to a story I just found. WTF? Where can I find you??? Help!!

  7. SO remember kids, next time you see war lords savaging local populations, Hezbollah rockets being fired at Israel, black and Latino teenagers gunned down in the prime of life, raise your joint in praise of Jah, cause at least your vice isn’t funding Jewish programs. THAT would be ethically questionable.

  8. are you really trying to say that buying beecers kills black teenagers and funds hezbollah? don’t confuse the coke and heroin trades with reefers. they don’t have nearly the same karmic consequences. buying hash in the middle east, on the other hand, could have those consequences, which is why i very publicly announced a boycott.

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