chitpas joined the 2013 anti-government protests and became one of the prominent speakers and faces of the people's democratic reform committee (pdrc), headed by former democrat politician suthep thaugsuban. in an afp report in mid-december 2013, chitpas was quoted saying that many thais lack a "true understanding of democracy ... especially in the rural areas." this provoked anger among government-supporting red shirts and inhabitants of the rural northeastern provinces, some of them starting to boycott singha beer. her home was attacked with molotov cocktails. a week later, chitpas' family prompted her to change her family name, in order to keep the bhirombhakdi name and boon rawd brewery out of the conflict. she chose to use her mother's maiden name, kridakorn. the protests resulted in the may 2014 military coup, which chitpas and other pdrc leaders celebrated with a party, wearing military-style outfits. after the coup, the pdrc transformed into the people's democratic reform foundation (pdrf) with chitpas serving as an assistant secretary.