This Illegal Immigrant Protest Brought To You by Miller Beer

Corporations are always looking for new ways to advertise their brands, but I think Miller beer might regret this one:

Marchers had to duck into fast-food restaurants for water when they first took to Chicago's streets in support of illegal immigrants five months ago. At the next two marches, family-owned grocery stores offered free bottled water from trucks emblazoned with their names.

This time, as demonstrators march from Chinatown to House Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) Batavia office this weekend, they will have Miller Brewing Co., as a sponsor. The brewer has paid more than $30,000 for a planning convention, materials and newspaper ads publicizing the event.

The support of a major corporation for a controversial political cause shows how fierce the competition has become to woo the growing market of Latino consumers.

For Miller, the march offered a special chance to catch up. This spring the brewer drew the ire of pro-immigrant forces over contributions to U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who sponsored legislation that would crack down on illegal immigrants. That prompted a short-lived boycott by some Latino groups.

Now, march advertisements feature not just the organizing committee's trademark blue globe but Miller's logo and a Spanish translation of its "Live Responsibly" slogan, a company effort to build goodwill among Latinos.

I don't drink beer, so I can't get too excited about boycotts and such (I hate boycotts anyway), but I couldn't help but think about all those NASCAR fans watching the #2 Miller Brewing Dodge driven by Kurt Busch. Busch has had enough problems getting fans to like him. I wonder how they'll feel about his sponsor encouraging the legalization of illegal aliens.

Poor Kurt just can't catch a break.