4. REPORT
Coors Campaign Reframes Longstanding Issues
By Michael Wilke
August 27, 2002
While the age-old gay boycott
against Coors Brewing Co. lives on for some, others aren't sure if the brand
should still be avoided. A new print campaign from Coors attempts once again to
turn the conversation to its gay-positive policies.
Titled "Real
History," the ad features a triangle with a list of the company's gay rights
accomplishments including: adopting an inclusive non-discrimination policy in
1978, adding same-sex partner health benefits in 1995 and other milestones.
Another ad to appear in January will feature six openly gay employees.
The educational effort will be informally tracked by word-of-mouth, with
hopes to grow the brand's estimated tiny 2%-3% share in the gay market's
competitive beer category.
The brewer has been working hard to turn
things around for years. Coors' first gay market effort began in 1997, with an
ad that similarly touted its gay employee benefits called "Perception isn't
always reality" and it soon sponsored gay events too. In 2000 a slightly
controversial ad referenced Grant Wood's 1930 iconic painting "American Gothic"
but featured two contemporary gay men, and in 2001 another starred openly gay
Olympic swimmer Bruce Hayes.
Mary Cheney, the daughter of vice president
Dick Cheney, previously served as the gay community liaison from 1994-2000, and
now Rafael Fantauzzi fills the role. Fantauzzi arrived in January after 10 years
of managing Hispanic community relations for American Airlines. He is part of a
staff of 11 dedicated to serving Hispanic, African-American, Asian, women,
Native American and Jewish concerns. Fantauzzi and Scott Coors, the openly gay
son of Coors' vice-chairman, have begun to try to reframe the issues.
Some Activists Continue to Urge Decades-Old Boycott
The roots of
Coors' robust community relations department grew out of a broader Coors boycott
that goes back to the early 1970s, when unions first organized their own boycott
and charged the brewer with racism, sexism and homophobia -- including
lie-detector tests asking if employees were homosexual. Following the 1960
murder of Adolph Coors III, polygraph tests were conducted by a security firm in
the 1970s and '80 but Coors spokesman Kevin Caulfield says sexuality questions
were never asked, calling them an "absolutely false" myth.
. . . COLUMN
CONTINUED AT THE WEB SITE
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/index.html?page=columnCOMMERCIAL CLOSET MISSION STATEMENT
Advertising can
change more than just brand preferences -- it can change how we think about each
other. Commercial Closet seeks to bring dignity to how the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender community is represented in the most powerful medium of
our time. The project is a unique, non-profit education and journalism
organization that proactively reaches out to marketers, ad agencies, the media
and world-at-large to educate about portrayals of the gay community in
mainstream advertising worldwide, leveraging an online collection of over 1,000
ads, a traveling video lecture, a syndicated ad column, and public
relations.
Exec. Director:
mike.wilke@commercialcloset.org
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