As part of its efforts to reverse the sales decline, Schlitz launched a disastrous 1977 television ad campaign created by Leo Burnett & Co. In each of the ads, a burly Schlitz drinker threatens an off-screen speaker (visually identified with the viewer) who wants him to switch to a rival beer. Audiences found the campaign menacing and the ad industry dubbed it "Drink Schlitz or I'll kill you." The company responded by pulling the campaign after 10 weeks and firing Burnett. The ultimate blow to the company was another crippling strike at the Milwaukee plant in 1981. About 700 production workers went on strike on June 1, 1981. Eventually, the company was acquired by Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit, Michigan.