Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

Brewing a boycott, how a grassroots coalition fought Coors and remade American consumer activism, Allyson P. Brantley

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-276) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Brewing a boycott

bibliography

Allyson P. Brantley

Justice, power, and politics

how a grassroots coalition fought Coors and remade American consumer activism

"In the late twentieth century United States, nothing united union members, Chicanos, gay men and lesbians, feminists, black activists, and progressive college students quite so well as Coors beer. Members of these communities came together not in praise of the ice cold beverage but, rather, to unite against a common enemy: the Colorado-based Coors Brewing Company. Wielding the consumer boycott as their weapon of choice, activists targeted Coors for allegations of antiunionism, discrimination, and ties to prominent political conservatives. Over multiple decades of organizing and coalition-building, anti-Coors activists molded the boycott tool into a means of political protest. In Brewing a Boycott, Allyson P. Brantley details the history of this boycott movement - one of the longest such campaigns in U.S. history - for the first time. Drawing from an array of archival collections, as well as oral history interviews with long-time boycotters, Brantley offers a compelling, grassroots view of boycotting, anti-corporate organizing, and the unlikely coalitions that formed in opposition to the iconic Rocky Mountain brew. The story of this boycott, as told here, highlights the vibrancy of activism in the final decades of the twentieth century and the enduring legacy of that organizing for communities, consumer activists, and corporations today"--, Provided by publisher

Beer can politics -- Coors is trying to destroy the union -- Chicanos arriba, Coors abajo -- Cold, new, and right: Coors-style politics -- Everyone's fight: boycotting the Bay Area, 1973-1976 -- Givin' up this beer for sweeter wine: brewery workers on strike, 1977-1978 -- Racing cockroaches and boycotting coast to coast, 1979-1988 -- A hangover from another era?