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Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Chaldean boycott brews a victory

Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 2, 2007

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Saad Kassab, owner of the King of Woodward party store, points to the reproduction of theoffensive picture and two pages of information about the boycott posted by the checkout counter.

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic King of Woodward party store employee Mike Mansor shows a refrigerated section that once held Miller products, but now is filled with competitors’ beers. He said Miller beers used to fill five such sections.

Detroit — Chaldean Catholic Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim believes support of Chaldean Catholics in metro Detroit for a boycott of Miller Brewing Co. products played a major role in convincing the huge brewer to pledge to never again support events that insult and offend religious sensibilities.

"We were a big factor in that," said Bishop Ibrahim, who heads the Southfield-based Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle, the Chaldean Catholic diocese for the eastern half of the United States.

With Chaldean Catholics owning about 2,000 party stores in metropolitan Detroit — about 90 percent of the total — the Chaldeans put teeth in the boycott by threatening to almost freeze the brewer out of one of America's largest markets.

Bishop Ibrahim worked with Chaldean ethnic and business groups to boycott the brewer's products after its logo appeared on a poster that included a sadomasochistic-themed picture that mocked Leonardo da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper."

The poster, a promotion for the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, featured men clad in the leather outfits common to the sadomasochistic homosexual subculture, with various sex "toys" on the table.

The Sept. 30 street fair itself included other outrages, including a man dressed as Christ and a stripper who were lifted up over a Catholic church by a piece of construction machinery, and a transvestite group that dresses in traditional nun habits and calls itself the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

The Chaldean Catholics joined a boycott launched by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, demanding not only an apology from Miller, but also that the company would withdraw its support from any group that attacks any religion — whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim.

Gregg McIntosh | The Michigan Catholic Sign on door of refrigerator case at Town and Country party store in Southfield advises customers that all Miller products are being boycotted because of the company’s “religious bashing.”

Gregg McIntosh | The Michigan Catholic Eddie Foumia (right), owner of Party Palace in Southfield, shows information on the Miller beer boycott to customer Tony Isa.

Gregg McIntosh | The Michigan Catholic Duraid Foumia, of Town & Country party store in Southfield, shows an empty area in the walk-in refrigerated section that once held Miller beers.

Bishop Ibrahim announced the boycott Oct. 14 at Mother of God (Chaldean) Cathedral in Southfield, "I told our people, if they are really believers in Jesus Christ, to boycott Miller products," the bishop said.

The company's initial response was to study the matter, then issue an apology for the use of its logo on the posters, saying it was a violation of its own marketing policies.

But Milwaukee-based Miller, the second-largest U.S. brewer, contended its involvement in the San Francisco event was indirect, with the real sponsor being its San Francisco distributor, and the company refused to pledge to never be a sponsor to such events in the future.

Bishop Ibrahim and other Chaldean leaders said the apology was not sufficient, and pledged to continue the boycott until the company gave a satisfactory response.

"Our religion is important for us. I told our people Sunday (Oct. 28), 'Look how it is in Iraq, with all the pressure on them, not one (Chaldean) family has changed their religion. And here we are in the United States, and someone is mocking our religion, and we are going to do nothing?' I told them that if they support someone who is supporting such activities, it is just as if they were doing those activities too," Bishop Ibrahim said.

The bishop and leaders of Chaldean ethnic and business groups were meeting Monday afternoon at the Chaldean diocesan center in Southfield when they received word from Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee that he had just received a new letter from Miller that seemed to agree with the terms.

"We read the letter, we thought about it, and it seemed to be what we were asking," Bishop Ibrahim said.

He said he is very pleased with the near total participation of Chaldean business owners with the boycott. "I'm happy we defended our faith and our values," the bishop said.

Earlier Monday, Saad Kassab, proprietor of the King of Woodward party store in Highland Park, about a half-mile north of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, said this was the third week he had ordered no Miller products for the store.

"They disrespected my religion. It's not right; it wouldn't be right to do it with any religion," said Kassab, a member of St. Thomas (Chaldean) Parish in West Bloomfield Township.

His wife, Ahlam Kassab, said that when they explain the reasons behind the boycott to customers, "99 percent of our customers are agreeing with it."

"These people who live around here (in Highland Park and north central Detroit) are all Christians; they may be Catholics or they may be Protestants, but they are all Christians," Ahlam Kassab said.

She said she found it especially objectionable the way some of the Folsom Street Fair antics mocked nuns: "I've known our Chaldean nuns since I was little, and I visit the ones here every week."

King of Woodward employee Mike Mansor said Miller was the store's best-selling brand before the boycott, taking up the equivalent of five full sections of its 20-some refrigerated sections of beer, wine, soft drinks and dairy products.

Ahlam Kassab said the boycott was all about standing up for one's beliefs: "I believe in my faith, and I think people should fight for what they believe in."

Ironically, the founding family of Miller Brewing Co. were Catholics. Harry G. John, a grandson of founder Frederick Miller, lost millions of dollars of his inheritance trying to establish a Catholic television network in the 1980s. One of the founder's great-granddaughters was the late Loret Miller Ruppe, who was the wife of former U.S. Congressman Philip Ruppe from northern Michigan and who served as U.S. ambassador to Norway.

The family sold a majority stake in the company in 1966, however, and then the entire company was purchased by Philip Morris Corp. in 1969.

In 2002, Miller was sold to South African Breweries, and has since operated as the U.S. subsidiary of SABMiller plc, one of the largest brewing companies in the world.