Jack Daniel’s parent company, Brown-Forman announced the Tennessee whiskey brand will no longer sponsor Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a relationship it has had for 15 years.
The whiskey company has decided to go in a different direction, instead focusing on efforts to partner with the National Basketball Association, according to a spokesperson.
Jack Daniels isn’t the first to drop its sponsorship of the Iditarod race: Wells Fargo pulled out of the event last year, the Washington Post reports.
PETA believes it had an impact on the decision by Jack Daniel’s. The animal rights group claims it contacted Jack Daniel’s after the deaths of five dogs connected to the 2017 race. The Iditarod also had its first dog doping scandal in 2017. And this year, another dog died due to aspiration pneumonia. According to PETA, a total of more than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod’s history.
However, a Jack Daniel’s spokesperson said the incidents were not related to its decision. “As a sponsor of The Iditarod for 15 years we have been particularly impressed with the utmost care in which the animals are treated by the race veterinarians, the dog sled teams and everyone associated with this event,” he wrote to the Associated Press.
Jack Daniels also made headlines this week when it warned consumers the price of its whiskey will likely spike about 10 percent in Europe due to the Trump Administration’s trade tariffs. Doggonit.
