A forklift operator may have become the victim of fierce competition between two of the world's biggest beer manufacturers.

The Associated Press reported Isac Aguero, 24, was sacked from his job with a Miller Brewing Co distributor the same day The Journal Times of Racine published a picture of him enjoying a Bud Light, brewed by St Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Co.

Aguero, who had been a forklift operator with CJW Inc for four years, said his co-workers told him the picture had landed him in trouble when he arrived for work on Monday.

He said he was called into the general manager's office and told he was fired.

"Bud Light's my beer of choice, I always drink that. Just because I work there, do I have to change what I drink?" Aguero told The Journal Times.

Thomas Bey, a CJW sales manager, said in a statement:

"The image and reputation of any company is determined in large part by the way its employees are seen to behave. Our employees can and should be our best ambassadors."