The Coors Boycott

In the mid-1960s, to protest discriminatory hiring practices, Chicano groups in Colorado called for a boycott of the Coors Brewing Company, launching what would become a decades-long boycott that brought together a coalition of activists that would include not just Chicano and Latino groups, but also African American groups, union organizers, LGBT activists, students, environmentalists and feminists.

These groups had a variety of motivations for their involvement in the boycott and varied success in achieving their goals. Although the formal boycott ended by the late 1980s, some activists continue to boycott Coors beer to today.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of the Coors boycott and interviews Allyson P. Brantley, Assistant Professor of History & Director of Honors and Interdisciplinary Initiatives at the University of La Verne in Southern California, and author of the 2021 book Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: 1970s-era “Boycott Coors Beer” broadside. Printed by the Howard Quinn Co.

Sources:

• Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism by Allyson P. Brantley.
• “The Coors Boycott: When A Beer Can Signaled Your Politics,” by B. Erin Cole & Allyson Brantley, Colorado Public Radio, October 3, 2014,
• “‘A Political Fight Over Beer’: The 1977 Coors Beer Boycott, and the Relationship Between Labour–Gay Alliances and LGBT Social Mobility,” by Kieran Blake, Midland Historical Review, January 24, 2020.
• “TEAMSTERS PRIDE AT WORK: A LOOK BACK AT THE COORS BOYCOTT,” International Brotherhood of Teamster, June 2, 2017.