How U.S. brands and nonprofits are navigating a divided America on its landmark anniversary

Partisanship and a decline in patriotism have impacted participation in the landmark date. The United States’ 250th birthday carries ambitions to galvanize Americans behind nationwide community-service drives and patriotic brand launches. Well-known U.S. nonprofits hope to inspire a record-setting level of volunteerism, while major companies such as Walmart and Coca-Cola are sponsoring tributes and selling limited-edition merchandise.But the private sector’s unifying ambitions have been met with a mixed response, complicated by an uneasy national mood. Fewer Americans see their country as exceptional compared to 10 years ago, according to a recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, part of a broad decline in patriotic sentiment. Views of the American flag — a prominent feature of semiquincentennial celebrations — are divided by politics, age and race.Rival events, planned by two different commissions, are adding to the conflicted feelings. Late last year President Donald Trump created Freedom 250, a nonprofit led by his allies, to organize alternative programming to America250, the official nonpartisan group formed in 2016 by Congress.“The American dream is alive again. That’s something that nobody thought they’d be saying when you went through that last four years of incompetence,” Trump said at his June 24 campaign-style rally kicking off Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair, which lost nearly all scheduled musical performers over concerns the event had grown too politically charged.