A word of advice about DU "boycotts"

[Initech]

I get really tired of seeing someone not liking something and then saying they will "boycott" that particular brand or product. I think the phrase has been so widely used lately that it's lost all meaning here.

This the word of advice that I will give for today: THEY DONT HELP.

Let that sink in for a minute. These days with corporations getting bigger by the minute, there's no way that one person or even a few people here saying they're not going to buy something will hurt their profits. Sure, these are where the real moral values actually come in handy, but in order for a boycott to be effective, there needs to be MANY people deciding they will not buy a particular brand / product, and they need to be really active in organizing a boycott in order for it to really hurt a company's profit margins.

A good example is last year when Verizon was one of the many companies who actively handed our private information over to the feds with questioning it, many tried to organize a boycott, but you know what? They're still around. People are still buying their products. Exxon Mobil is still around despite some highly organized boycotts, and they're making higher profits than ever.

So in order to do a really effective boycott, like with this wheat gluten thing, we really need to spread the word around, both online and offline. Inform people on the streets. write scathing LTTEs. Get organized if you're properly planning a boycott. Otherwise, they win.

:rant:

[endarkenment]

1. They do not always work but they certainly can work.

The right has been using boycotts and the threat of boycotts for years now to force behavior changes in corporations. Some of our consumer pressure campaigns have been effective, some haven't. We just need to get better organized and increase the quality.

[Initech]

2. Exactly. Some have, some have not.

The thing is, if you really want to boycott something these days, you need to get organized enough to hit them where it hurts.

[Richard Steele]

3. Indeed. "Get organized if you're properly planning a boycott." That is key. nm

[Bjornsdotter]

4. If they don't work....

...then why does the Chicago Tribune and AT&T keep trying to get me to come back.

Sorry, but I think that they do work on a certain level. Will these businesses close down because I'm not a customer...no. I'm only one person, but these companies contact me at least once a week.

Cheers

[demobabe]

5. It depends on what you're trying to do

Before starting a boycott, you should figure out what it is you want to accomplish.

Running Exxon/Mobil out of business isn't going to happen. Or at least not easily.

But I still don't give them my money directly, I don't buy gas from them for my car. Haven't since Valdez.

However, boycotts can cause change - if you don't want your bread manufacturer to buy wheat gluten from China and you tell them you won't buy their bread until they get their gluten from the US and it's well tested, now that's a good boycott. It gives the corporation a way to fix their problem instead of just shutting them out. We need to to tell them what we want. They WILL respond.

[Initech]

6. That's just it.

A large scale boycott can be effective. Small scale boycotts can make things change, and there are several examples of this. But a few people saying they're not going to buy something doesn't work.

[demobabe]

7. Well, I do feel better for a moment...

...until I realize the bread I'm buying probably was being transported in trucks fueled by Exxon/Mobil.

The whole system of corporations make it extremely hard to have an effective boycott period. My credit cards are financing the war? But I'm against the war!

They get you coming and going.

The boycotts that drive me nuts are the ones where they say 'don't buy anything on Tuesday.'

I never get that.

So what, I put off spending until Wednesday?

[stillcool]

8. boycotts vs profits...

is not the only factor. For myself...it's about what you make reference to..the moral value of exercising choices.

[Forkboy]

9. What if you just want to feel even slightly better when you put your head on your pillow at night?

:shrug:

[Initech]

10. There's always that.

I have some companies that I try not to buy from for any reason (like Pepsi, Coke, Dell, McDonalds, and a few others) so yeah I guess that's one way the personal boycotts do work.

[Rosemary2205]

11. Boycotts don't help?

so buses in the south are still segregated??? It's still illegal to use NON British salt in India?????

Of course they help. Oh, some of them no nowhere but a boycott can help. It starts with ONE person saying out loud "I have had enough of this". DU's GD serving that purpose is open for debate of course, but I've seen Democratic Underground be the catalyst for quite a few great things.