Getting fired for using the wrong brand.

Man fired for drinking the 'wrong' beer. Ross Hopkins, former supervisor at the Budweiser distributorship American Eagle claims he was fired for drinking the wrong beer after work. He was fired after the son-in-law of the distributorship owner saw him drinking Coors in a Greeley bar.
The court filing does not directly challenge Hopkins' claim that he was fired, at least in part, for drinking Coors in public.
Not the first time something like this happened, mind you.

Sometime back in March I was approached by Michael Cohen who was building a blog where the "purpose was to discuss the ways in which blogging and bloggers in general are shaping the face of the Internet, marketing and public relations". So he asked a few questions with "blogging" tied into it and I replied in long drab paragraphs, and I think I might have bored him to death. Anyway, one of the replies touches on the story of a previous fired-for-drinking the wrong beer incident:

Q. In the past six months, there were at least 3 high profile stories of employees of technology companies being let go at least indirectly due to their blogging. What is your opinion of whether employees should be able to blog about their day to day work day (without revealing confidential information of course)?
A: In quite a few of the cases I read about, bloggers were fired for breaking terms of their employment contract. Someone took a camera to work and photographed in a "no photo" zone and posted in his blog, spoke of projects that were "secret", and similar unwise moves. In advertising one is often under contract to not speak about clients outside of the agency, a rule nearly every advertising person breaks when they hit the pub and talk to colleagues about their week. While pub gossip is hard to prove a blog posting is not. Much like unwise emails have gotten people fired blogs are not the only place where this "invasion" of an employees private life is happening, and personally I think the question is much larger than just about blogs. Did Britney Spears get fired when she was photographed holding a Coke while she is a Pepsi spokesperson? No. But a Miller forklift operator (Isac Aguero) was fired for drinking a Bud (which was pictured in the local news). Why is that? How much of your time is the employers "buying" when they pay you for a 40-hour week? Should Miller really have expected that Isac Aguero drink only Miller after work. Can McDonald's employees only eat at McDonald's?
...
Anything an employer decides to write into a contract, has to abide to the laws of the country (naturally). In Denmark for instance, everybody is allowed to speak out as a private person (ie; not representing the company), no matter what a company may try to put in a contract.

What is it with American beer companies? Ah, but it's not just them - The cola wars get personal: Coke employee fired for drinking Pepsi on the job.

Santangelo said Rick Bronson, a driver who had been with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. for 12 years, had just completed a delivery to a California store called Smart and Final. Bronson purchased a Pepsi at the store and headed to a back room to take a break.
Bronson was wearing his Coke uniform and was on company time when he drank the offending Pepsi.

So, while in Denmark employees have the right to choose Faxe beer over Carlsberg, over in the land of the free employees are so owned by the companies they can't even choose the drink they prefer. While some may see these incidents as PR disasters for the corporations involved, I see a bigger problem in the fact that firing someone for exercising their right to choose isn't illegal already.

So why is it that the person paid millions to endorse one drink doesn't get fired when she drinks another? Seems her jobs stops when the official photoshoot is done, while the minimum wage workers doesn't. Odd that.