Tru Colors is a brewery based in Wilmington, North Carolina which hires active, rival gang members in a bid to encourage them to step away from a criminal lifestyle by giving them a tangible alternative.
The brewery, 80% of whose staff are gang members, has just launched its first beer, Tru Light. The premium light beer is packaged in cans bearing the brewery’s tagline, ‘brewed by rivals’.
The brand’s philosophy is that by giving gang members an economic alternative to their current criminal activities, they will have a valuable opportunity to turn their lives around.
Tru Colors’ mission has not been smooth sailing. Various events have threatened to derail the launch of Tru Light, from Hurricane Ida to the killing of a friend of several of the company’s staff. On another occasion, one of the company’s leaders was killed in a gang-related attack at the home of the founder’s son.
These tragedies inevitably affected morale and also drew a considerable amount of negative press attention, but the brand remained resolute that its mission to bring rival gang members together and to encourage them to forge new lives for themselves was one that was worth pursuing.
Since then, US-brewing heavyweight Molson Coors has invested in the young brand, taking a minority stake, and Tru Light has been successfully launched into stores.
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