Got a response from Miller. Someone posted a diary about this yesterday, but for some reason it's not turning up in a diary search, so here's the story for those who didn't read it. Miller fired an employee because a photo of him appeared in the local paper drinking a Budweiser on his off time. Here's
a link to the whole story.
It seemed really unfair to me, so I wrote the following e-mail to Miller:
"I'd like to know how your company can justify firing someone just because he was photographed drinking a beer from a different company. Would a BP employee be fired if he's caught filling his tank at an Exxon station? Should an ABC employee be fired if she watches a show on NBC? Should an employee of Sears be fired if he buys a product at JC Penney? Do you see the absurdity of this stance by Miller?"
Today I got this outrageous response, which basically admits that they really do think someone should be fired if they're seen drinking a different brand of beer:
"Thanks for contacting us. This personnel matter involves an employee of one of our distributor partners, not Miller Brewing Company. Our distributors are completely separate and independent businesses with their own policies and procedures. Miller Brewing Company does not have a formal policy addressing this type of situation. However, we believe that the image and reputation of a company is determined in large part by the behavior of its employees. Unlike most industries, the beer business is one of the most competitive in the country with two major players, Miller and Anheuser-Busch. A comparable industry would be the soft drink industry, in which you also have two major players, Coke and Pepsi. Because employees are a company's best ambassadors, if a Coke employee chose to publicly drink a Pepsi--which is THE primary competitive product to Coke--it could directly impact the image of Coke, with people thinking that if Coke's own employees don't drink Coke, then why should they? We believe that a similar concern could be expressed if a Miller employee were to publicly drink a Budweiser product. Common sense suggests that a company's employees can and should be its best ambassadors. We appreciate your interest in our company."