Over in one of the McD’s threads in the Pit, several posters have mentioned fast-food restaurants that are on their list of businesses not to support.
What businesses do you refuse to support due to moral or other reasons?
Nike - Great shoes made by Chinese children for pennies a day!
GT Bicycles.
Their frames crack all the time. Yet, kids keep buying them. It’s a battle I’m losing.
Red Lobster and Olive Garden. The owner tried to get the Cook county antidiscrimination laws that made the firing of employees just because of their sexual orientation overturned. He said they were unconstitutional.
The Body Shop. I hate how they pretend to be all animal-rights and stuff when in fact they do use slaughterhouse byproducts in their cosmetics. I’m not an animal rights person and I don’t really care what’s in my cosmetics (well, within reason anyway) but that just pisses me off.
Were those local franchises or was that on the national corporate level? I’d like to know more about this, I’d hate to have to give up Olive Garden.
Nike stuff and Kathy Lee stuff I’d stay away from even I did find their products desirable.
I generally boycott companies with inflated marketing departments and mediocre quality. Read: The Gap, Old Navy No matter that I find their commercials appealing, I know I’m supposed to. I am, after all, a prime demographic.
Ruadh - we almost simulpost but I saw this in the preview mode:
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I’ve never heard that. The issue with The Body Shopas I understood to be that they claimed their products were not tested on animals…because they contracted out an independant lab to do the animal testing for them. A pillar of the company was “We don’t test our products on animals” in reality should have been followed by , (but we pay another company to do it for us).
I won’t buy from The Body Shop. Not necessariily because I’m committed to being financially opposed to animal testing, but because I won’t support a company who marketing department puts forth BIG FAT LIES about the fact that their products aren’t tested on animals, when really, they are. Oops. To me, I just have to wonder what else their willing to lie about just to be P.C., Criminey, I mean, the whole touchie-feelie-satisfied-my-money-is-supporting-a-worthy-happy-company-mushy-organic feeling of the company changed after that. Liars.
Well, I don’t know what anyone else’s issue with the Body Shop is but they definitely do use animal products in some (not all) of their cosmetics. You can see it on the label.
L’Oreal is another company with a history of lying about their animal policies. They lied to their employees, even. In the early 90s my best friend worked the L’Oreal counter at a department store and as part of their training they were told the company did not test on animals. Liars.
I don’t remember EXACTLY when this was, but around a year ago Mars started an ad campaign that basically said, “If you eat Twix and drink soda you too can beat up on the runt!” They later pulled the campaign, but anyone who would do that has lost my dollar. I think my sister’s stopped buying their shit as well. This from a girl who used to spend her entire allowance (about 6 bucks a week) on candy.
I don’t think my family buys Purdue either.
Not that I would ever have the need to shop there, but Benneton, especially after their deification of sadistic murderers for advertising purposes.
Also, Ben & Jerry’s.
Commander Fortune:
I agree with the spirit of what you say, but they’re technically not lying. Unsurprisingly, it’s not an unusual practice. I once stayed for a few days on an Australian ranch, and one of the guys who worked there explained that he didn’t supply McDonald’s as they stamped “100% Australian Beef” on their burger wrappers. The beef was actually imported; “100% Australian Beef” was the name of the import/export company.
Oh and then there’s Starbucks. Just on principle.
Praying they never make it to Ireland …
Lately I’ve been making an effort not to support the BehemothMarts in town–Wal-Mart, Meijer, etc. I have always shopped there because it’s cheaper than the smaller stores in town. Lately, though, I’ve decided that 1.) since they’ve just built two more Wal-Marts and another Meijer here in town, the pool of labor has dwindled considerably, and service has gone from nonexistant to actively bad, and 2.) it isn’t that much cheaper, if at all. It was cheaper right after Meijer opened, but it didn’t take long for all the prices to creep right back up.
This is part of a conscious effort I’m making not to support the GlobalMegaCorps any more than I have to. It’s a difficult task, when you think about it–the alternatives are becoming fewer and further between. My one weakness is Diet Pepsi, of which I drink a lot and for which I haven’t found a suitable substitute.
Divemaster, what is your specific problem with Ben and Jerry’s?
Dr. J
Microsoft and Disney, because they’re evil.
Old Navy because they need to be punished for those commercials.
This one may sound odd, if you aren’t in the south, but there is a drugstore chain called Freds. I will not go to it again. My mom owns a building in Flora, MS, which used to house the only drugstore around, there had been one there since the 1930’s. Freds came to town, secretly bought the store, and moved it to their new location, and renaming it “Freds”. Now, the guy who was the pharamacist did get justice (lost his license because of irregularites), but Fred’s opinon of the lease he had with us was “So Fucking what? We’re huge, you are poor shitheads who can’t sue us, so why should we listen?” Tommy (the Pharmacist) got paid $25k to break the lease. Mom and my Aunt got screwed over, and the building sits empty now.
Sorry, but it is the at the national level. A old story is at: http://www.tao.ca/~opirg-tor/events/0080.html
See also:
http://www.hrc.org/issues/leg/enda/hearing2/hamilton.html
Since the owners were such asses and last I heard were maintaining the did nothing wrong, I am continuing my boycott. They eventually dropped the challenge to the civil rights laws, but not because of a change of heart.
…any clothing depicting logos such as Tommy Hilfiger, etc.
Why should you pay through the nose for a sweatshirt only to serve as a billboard for the company?
Er…not to be rude, but isn’t that true of most clothing labels? Hilfiger, YSL, Polo, Kangol, Lacoste, Nike, Adidas, Reebok etc etc etc.
Let’s see…
- McDonald’s. No fucking way.
- Wal-Mart. Only if I must.
- K-Mart. No fucking way.
- AOL. I would rather burn in Hell.
- Microsoft. Only if I must.
- Bennetton. No fucking way.
- Disney. Hate the company, love the movies.
- Starbucks. No fucking way.
- Barnes & Nobles. No fucking way.
10)Nike. Only if I must.
I’m quite oppositional, it seems.
Oddly, I worship Taco Bell, Subway, Abercrombie, and Doc Marten.
–Tim
Whoa, wait…What’s up with B&N? I’m looking into being an affiliate or whatever, so I’d like to know in advance…
Eposia
I boycott GM: because of their desturction of some Mass trasnit (et?) operations many years ago.(1930’s? don’t make me look it up please)
Hoover vacum cleaners: They stole a patent from my great-grandfather.
ok so I hold a grudge at times.
Osip