Crucial Quote
“Summer is nearly over and the American people haven’t seen a single episode of this reality TV show—so what did the corporate sponsors who helped fund this road trip actually pay for?” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., told Forbes in an email.
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How Much Did Corporate Sponsors Spend On Duffy’s Road Trip Series?
Nearly every sponsor declined to share with Forbes how much they spent but it’s reasonable they collectively spent as much as $5 million. The Great American Road Trip, Inc., a non-profit organization, sold top-tier “platinum” partnerships for $1 million, with “gold” ($500,000), “silver” ($250,000) and “bronze” ($100,000) levels also available. Two of the top three “platinum” sponsors—Boeing and Toyota—spent $1 million each. The series website shows the logo of the British multinational oil and gas company Shell on the same tier, indicating a similar level of spend. Electronic Payments Coalition, a lobbying group representing the interests of major payment card networks, told Forbes it “was a sponsor of the road trip” but would not say how much it had contributed. Google, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, United Airlines, Lyft and CRH, a provider of building materials for highways and other critical infrastructure, did not respond to Forbes’ inquiries on how much they contributed to the road trip. The American Bus Association confirmed it was a bronze-level ($100,000) sponsor, while other organizations displayed at the same level told Forbes they had provided logistical support as “in-kind contributions” in lieu of financial contributions.
Have The Corporate Sponsors Been Compensated For The Delayed Launch?
Each level of partnership promised a set of deliverable benefits, ranging from logo placement and recognition on the series website to inclusion in a specific number of social media posts, mentions in email campaigns and VIP invitations to receptions and networking events, according to the obtained by Politico in May. The pitch deck states, “If deliverables are delayed or altered, [Great American Road Trip] will provide comparable substitute benefits in consultation with Sponsor.” Forbes queried every sponsor asking if it had been offered alternative benefits or reimbursement, but only one responded. “Nothing to add on this one,” Krista Edwards, spokesperson for Shell, told Forbes in an email.
How Much Do The Series Sponsors Spend in Federal Lobbying?
The corporate sponsors collectively spent more than $100 million in federal lobbying in 2025, according to their quarterly LD-2 disclosure filings.
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Why Has The Great American Road Trip Series Received Blowback?
“The administration continues to create these opportunities for corporate interests, to say nothing of the foreign ones, to fund their pet projects,” Donald Sherman, president and CEO of the liberal-leaning legal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told Forbes. The Transportation Secretary—whose previous jobs include reality TV star, U.S. Congressman and lobbyist for the U.S. airline industry—has said promoting summer road trips was a “civic experience” and part of his job. To film the five-part series, his family of 11 took eight separate mini trips over a seven-month period stretching from September 2025 through April 2026. Critics say the Duffy family was compensated in corporate-sponsored perks, including flights, hotel stays, a cruise, whitewater rafting, snowmobiling and skiing. In addition, many of the road trip’s corporate sponsors—including Boeing, United Airlines, Royal Caribbean, Toyota, Shell, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Lyft—are regulated by Duffy’s department. In June, a group of six Democratic U.S. senators led by Murray the Department of Transportation inspector general to open an official investigation into Duffy’s involvement in the show due to “potential misconduct and violations of federal laws, rules, and regulations” and alleging “the Secretary accepted gas, lodging, and other travel expenses from a non-profit funded by the very companies the Secretary regulates.” Last month, Department of Transportation spokesperson Sizemore told Forbes in an email that “career ethics officials cleared every aspect of the Secretary’s participation in the Great American Road Trip.”
Further Reading
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy Took A Corporate-Sponsored Family Road Trip. Taxpayers Paid His Salary The Whole Way. (Forbes)
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