Brewing a Boycott - (Justice, Power, and Politics) by Allyson P Brantley (Paperback)

About the Book

"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"--

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"A fast-paced and lively narrative. . . . Brantley is a skilled thinker and writer who has offered food studies scholars, labor historians, and residents of the Rocky Mountain West an important new contribution."--Gastronomica

"Excellent. . . . Brantley's examination of the boycotts themselves reveals a great deal about the complexities involved when different groups work together towards common goals."--Society for US Intellectual History

"Integrating archival records from activists, mainstream and grassroots periodicals, and oral history interviews, Allyson Brantley offers an illuminating account of how boycotters organized a diverse coalition to fight the anti-union, discriminatory practices of Coors and its neoliberal ideology. Labor historians, social movement scholars, and researchers who study how politics influence consumer behavior will find notable contributions in Brantley's book." - Business History Review

"The text is sure to result in major contributions for future research and scholarship on this important subject matter. Every library should obtain a copy for collections on labor, grassroots politics, and social movements history."--CHOICE

"This impressive book sheds new light on the history of intersectional activism and conservative politics, as well as labor and business history. It is one of the most clarifying, empirically rich analyses of post-1960s activism ever written."--Pacific Historical Review