In the late twentieth century, nothing united union members,
progressive students, Black and Chicano activists, Native
Americans, feminists, and members of the LGBTQ+ community quite as
well as Coors beer. They came together not in praise of the ice
cold beverage but rather to fight 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 conservative political ties.
Over decades of organizing and coalition-building from the 1950s to
the 1990s, anti-Coors activists molded the boycott into a powerful
means of political protest.
In this first narrative history of one of the longest boycott
campaigns in U.S. history, Allyson P. Brantley draws from a broad
archive as well as oral history interviews with long-time
boycotters to offer a compelling, grassroots view of anti-corporate
organizing and the unlikely coalitions that formed in opposition to
the iconic Rocky Mountain brew. The story 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.