# Do you participate in personal consumption boycotts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346 "2013-05-14T20:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/61 "2013-05-18T14:20:14Z")
I don’t boycott companies by and large. I’ll stop patronizing a company for specific reasons that affect me directly. For example while I never liked Wal-Mart, sometimes it was the best option for a combination of convenience/price factors. Sometime around 2010 after the 3rd-4th time in a month where I was stuck in a line with four items in my hands and had to wait 20 minutes to even get to the cashier I paid and said I would never again shop at Wal-Mart. I haven’t. Some people are willing to accept extremely long check out lines (meaning understaffed check out lanes) because it means lower prices, my time is more valuable than that. Target is basically the same store as Wal-Mart just faux-upscale, but I’ve never had to wait in line like that at Target. I don’t know if they schedule smarter or what, but it just hasn’t happened to me there. What was especially infuriating about Wal-Mart’s check out situation was every time, they had a large “self-checkout” area that was 100% turned off. I never saw it turned on in the 2.5 years I had shopped at that particular Wal-Mart. But I consider political boycotts of companies both childish and stupid, and I immediately think anyone who says they engage in those are indolent children whining their way through life. No respect for them at all. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/62 "2013-05-18T16:10:49Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > How am I hurting myself? I buy a different brand of peanut butter or clothes or pizza or makeup. No big deal. > > Similarly, if I hurt other people by not buying their products - by extension then that means I also hurt every other company in the world that I do not buy from, regardless of the reason. If I think a company makes shitty, worthless products, do I have to still buy from them so I won’t be hurting their precious bottom line? If not, why is it bad if I think they cause deep harm by creating those products and thus refuse to buy them? > > Honestly, it’s a personal boycott, not an advocation of firebombing their factories/stores. Right. It’s more of a matter of choosing to not do business with someone we don’t find it rewarding to do business with. I was in no way hurting the Sony Corporation, but I felt they were being dicks to a merchant I enjoyed patronizing at the time so I tried to not carry their branded gear if I had the choice. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/63 "2013-05-18T16:55:29Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I don’t boycott companies by and large. I’ll stop patronizing a company for specific reasons that affect me directly. For example while I never liked Wal-Mart, sometimes it was the best option for a combination of convenience/price factors. Sometime around 2010 after the 3rd-4th time in a month where I was stuck in a line with four items in my hands and had to wait 20 minutes to even get to the cashier I paid and said I would never again shop at Wal-Mart. I haven’t. Some people are willing to accept extremely long check out lines (meaning understaffed check out lanes) because it means lower prices, my time is more valuable than that. > > Target is basically the same store as Wal-Mart just faux-upscale, but I’ve never had to wait in line like that at Target. I don’t know if they schedule smarter or what, but it just hasn’t happened to me there. What was especially infuriating about Wal-Mart’s check out situation was every time, they had a large “self-checkout” area that was 100% turned off. I never saw it turned on in the 2.5 years I had shopped at that particular Wal-Mart. > > But I consider political boycotts of companies both childish and stupid, and I immediately think anyone who says they engage in those are indolent children whining their way through life. No respect for them at all. It’s not political; it’s about the rapacious nature of the owners/CEOs, the treatment of employees and the disregard for their safety, etc. If I refused to do business with those who are Republicans, my house would be empty. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/64 "2013-05-19T09:01:13Z")
Oh, I guess I’ve been boycotting one of the local news outlets for a few years, if you can really call that “personal consumption” when it’s free (I guess I’m not consuming the ads anymore). During one of the biannual contract wars between it and the cable company, they started having the anchors read ads for Dish and DirecTV _as news_. I figure every network is going to have these moronic fights, but this channel went way beyond the norm. One of the stories in each newscast was “Panic Panic Panic!!! None of your favorite shows on Time Warner. Here’s the number where you can buy a dish and have it installed tomorrow so you can keep watching all your shows! Panic!” IMO it was extremely unethical to fake news just to get an edge in negotiations. If it was such an important commercial message, they should have used ad time for it. Or better yet, let the dish companies buy ads themselves. I haven’t watched their news since. I think it was three years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/65 "2013-05-19T17:14:50Z")
I stopped buying Image comics in September, 2011. Other publishers printed tributes to the 9/11 terrorist attack. Image took $25,000 from a conspiracy theorist and published a comic outlining how it was a big government plot and the buildings were wired with thermite to bring them down. Image is free to publish whatever they want. I’m free to walk away. Shame, as I really liked _The Walking Dead_. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/66 "2013-05-19T21:07:34Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I quit going to Whole Foods for the same reason. I make one exception: fresh figs, because I can’t find them at the Dominick’s or the crappy-ass Jewel nearby. However, a Trader Joe’s is opening near me in a few months, so hopefully I can get my figs there instead. > > As far as I know, they’re still around. I never went there even before that ad campaign, but now that I know about their philosophy, I’ll never buy anything from them. Is their “philosophy” that they don’t support murder by the state? Support of state healthcare and rabid support of executions seems a little odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/67 "2013-05-19T21:25:08Z")
I boycott Walmart. Don’t care for their treatment of employees or their pressure on suppliers to make cheaper, crappier products and/or move manufacturing to China. Also a restaraunt I used to eat at a lot, after the owner remodeled and added a large screen TV blaring Fox News to the dining area. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/68 "2013-05-20T01:48:38Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Is their “philosophy” that they don’t support murder by the state? Support of state healthcare and rabid support of executions seems a little odd to me. I wasn’t aware of the rule that I have to agree with every single issue that’s part of my political party’s philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/69 "2013-05-20T14:23:35Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > How am I hurting myself? I buy a different brand of peanut butter or clothes or pizza or makeup. No big deal. > > Similarly, if I hurt other people by not buying their products - by extension then that means I also hurt every other company in the world that I do not buy from, regardless of the reason. If I think a company makes shitty, worthless products, do I have to still buy from them so I won’t be hurting their precious bottom line? If not, why is it bad if I think they cause deep harm by creating those products and thus refuse to buy them? > > Honestly, it’s a personal boycott, not an advocation of firebombing their factories/stores. It is only a boycott if you would have bought their product if not for the offending political expression. I think Chick Fil A makes a great chicken strip and a great dipping sauce for the strips. If I was to boycott them I would hurt myself by denying myself delicious chicken strips and dipping sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/70 "2013-05-20T15:00:38Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > It is only a boycott if you would have bought their product if not for the offending political expression. Right, but the end result to the company is the same - I am not giving them my money. There are many reasons why a consumer may choose to do this, and I say that hating their company’s policies is just as good a reason as any, and that waving the “but you’re hurting the innocent employees OMG” flag is not a valid argument because by definition you do that to every other company that you fail to patronize (at all or enough). ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/71 "2013-05-20T15:21:55Z")
Didn’t read through the thread though it looks like the definition of boycott has come into play. Answer: yes - many things for many reasons. Effectiveness: none - of course one person’s choices will not change the course of a business. Reason: personal moral preference - I do it because for me\* (and only for me) \*my choice is the correct one to make. If perchance my special set of preferences happens to intersect with the preferences of enough other people as to affect change in this world - wonderful! What is certain is the use of my preference set has created an environment where I am happy, which was the goal in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/72 "2013-05-20T15:51:09Z")
I had never eaten at chik-fil-a before the whole homophobia thing, i may have considered it at some point if it wasn’t for that though. Same with Papa Johns. I don’t know if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/73 "2013-05-20T15:59:39Z")
Would the people who think this is silly childish bullshit eat at [Maurice’s Piggy Park](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/magazine/a-confederacy-of-sauces.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm)? Recall that this is a local business, not a nationwide chain. And that people do notice. ETA - and that you’ll be picking up your barbecue next to pamphlets about how black people ought to be thankful for the whole slavery thing. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/74 "2013-05-20T16:01:24Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Boycotting means hurting yourself alot more than you are hurting the company. Depends. If it doesn’t hurt you much to boycott a company, then it can’t hurt you a lot more than you hurt the company, because the difference between zero and ‘not much’ isn’t ‘a lot.’ These days, my wife and son and I drive past the Chick-Fil-A we used to regularly patronize, but that doesn’t hurt us much. There are other fast-food chains. And maybe if enough of us boycott Chick-Fil-A, it _will_ hurt the company. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/75 "2013-05-20T16:40:13Z")
I generally don’t care about politics when it comes to buying politics. The only thing I can think of is I don’t buy gas at Citgo. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346/76 "2013-05-20T17:22:06Z")
I don’t know how much of this is fact and how much is urban legend, but, supposedly, NBC was doing a news story on the effectiveness of boycotts, and they asked someone if he knew of any nationwide product boycott that was ever effective; he said, “The only one I know of is the one against GE” (when it was in the nuclear weapons business), and the NBC newsman replied, “I don’t think we’ll be mentioning that on the air.” As for boycotts, I usually don’t follow organized ones, although I have done personal ones (for example, I once boycotted McDonald’s for a while after it announced that it was not using GM potatoes). In fact, I have done anti-boycotts - that is, I started making it a point to use certain products _because_ of a boycott. For example, I started buying Kraft cheese over cheaper store brands after some lady who was part of that contest where, because of a printing error, thousands of people though they had won minivans, and called for a boycott of Kraft until they caved in and gave her a van (note that they never did). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-participate-in-personal-consumption-boycotts/658346.md?page=3)