What are your Boycotts for 2006?

In My Humble Opinion
61

I don’t think for one second that a boycott can have an effect most times on a company or an individual. There is just too much commerce going on for one voice to have much of an effect.

However, I do choose not to have my money go to a very short list of people just because I don’t want to be associated with them.

I won’t see Jane Fonda or Roman Polanski movies, for what ought to be obvious reasons. From what I can see, I’m not missing all that much.

It will also be a while before I spend any money in the city of San Francisco, for reasons I have previously discussed.

62

I don’t think Jane Fonda’s made a movie in something like 20 years, so that must be an easy boycott to keep up. :slight_smile:

63

Monster-in-Law came out just this year.

My boycott on her applies to all forms of media, obviously. And she has a book out.

64

I will continue to boycott any films made by Steven Spielberg. And Fruitopia.

65

Something like this happened to me from the other end. I was traveling for business and noticed a resteraunt near my hotel, w/i walking distance (I didn’t rent a car, and used public trans there). I looked up there number in the yellow pages, and placed an order for ‘kanicbird’, something like buffalo wings, nachos and BBQ ribs.

About 40 minutes later I show up, and ask for the order for kanicbird, which they had - OK all is well. Checked the bag , name on bag ‘kanicbird’ - OK - 3 items, all is well. Got the bill, about $20 higher then I expected. I found that they had wings, nachos and lambchops (which was $35 to the ribs $15). I told them that I didn’t order the lamb, don’t have time to wait, but will take the other 2 (which was really more then enough food).

The next day on the way to work I noticed a resturant with the logo of the place I ordered from, when I got back I looked it up and saw I placed an order at a different place, and must have picked up someone elses order by mistake.

So it might not have been the resturaunt’s fault, just someone with the same name.

66

Debeer’s
Boyscouts
Walmart
and my new one is Capital One. They literally have been bombarding me with mailings about 3-5 times a week. Nearly one a day. This all stemmed from the fact that I received the payout on my sister’s insurance policy. Hartford Life passed my name along to capital one and now they see fit to get their greedy little fingers on it. I was going to write them a nasty letter asking to be taken off their list, but I decided I rather have them waste their time and money.

67

hmm, lets see;

companies i’ve boycotted;
wally-world; it goes without saying, wally-world is evil, the micro$oft of big box stores, “embrace and assimilate”, drive the local shops out of business
micro$ucks (this is a permanent boycott) i don’t think i need to explain my reasons for this boycott, do i? :wink:
ford motor company; bad experiences with their vehicles, nonexistent quality control
oh what the frell, lets add starbucks to the mix, their coffee sucks anyway
Mag Instrument; they make a good flashlight, that’s a given, but they have a very lawsuit-happy crew of lawyers who will sue smaller, more innovative companies just to put them out of business, very micro$oftian strategy

companies that will get return business;
Apple Computer
Emissive Energy (Inova flashlights)
SureFire flashlights
local coffee microroasters
Chrysler Motors (until they piss me off, that is, i’m a Dodge guy at heart)

68

Sony - Because of the whole root kit mess. Too bad, they make decent products.

69

Sam’s Club
Several different “media” outlets - I say “media” because there are television stations, magazines, radio stations, etc. - I’m not going into them all and besides, I don’t want to stir up any controversy.
Several clothing stores - I don’t want to get into which ones either.

70

I boycott nothing. There are some stores/services I try to avoid, but not because of any ethical reasons. I’m with (again, it seems) EJsGirl on this one.

71

I’ll continue my boycott of any non-second-hand clothing until a major clothes retailer has a completely untarnished record on treating their workers like humans.

72

I still boycott Shell Oil

Any products coming out of Myanmar (Burma)

Any company religious in nature or that uses the “Jesus Fish” or other mythological propaganda for its personal pecuniary profits.

The RIAA, Sony, and the rest of the crew for making music less accessible. (See recent addition to the Coldplay CD where the consumer can’t even rip the CD to their MP3 player, play it in a lot of different systems, and doesn’t know any of these rules until after it’s opened and can’t return or exchange it.)

73

No true boycotts, but

Applebee’s dedcent, but not great food, but awful service.

Target, I tried to buy a battery for my camera there which is the same kind as a watch battery. The guy behind the watch counter refused to even look for it. I walked into Kmart and picked up what I needed in 2 minutes. If you won’t let your customers help themselves, at least have salespeople who know what the hell they’re talking about.

Taco Bell, they’re food is too salty

Chicekn Shack ditto

74

Jeez - with all the bad service people have gotten at various stores, I dont think I’ll be buying anything from anywhere this year. On the plus side, that’ll make tax deductions and saving money easier :slight_smile:

Hmm… it seems to me that if they get the drink right, and it tastes like crap, you should change your drink :stuck_out_tongue:

75

Walmart. Starbucks because of the 9/11 deal and anyway there’s an awesome coffee shop near where I live, owned by a guy who lives in the area (I see his car at the local shops) and hangs out at the place making small talk with the employees and customers for most of the day. It’s got a great atmosphere and great coffee. Now I just have to convince my friends to meet me there for study sessions next semester.

For those in San Diego, it’s on the corner of Rio San Diego Drive and Qualcomm Way, in the Promenade Rio Vista, at the Rio Vista trolley shop on the blue and green lines. About a block from the VA and a couple blocks from the mall. It’s called Milano Coffee. Send me an email if you’d like to meet up there and help me support local business.

I’m also going to boycott OnStar once I am in a financial situation where I can afford to sell my car and get a new one. Either that, or I’ll get OnStar removed. As I’m currently not paying for my insurance and didn’t put a dime into my car, I don’t feel right doing it now. It will be done, though. My reason for removing my OnStar system or getting a new car when I can, is because I found out my dad uses it to monitor my car’s location and speed at all times. The fact that he does it is nowhere near as nonplussing to me as the fact that it’s possible.

The tobacco industry. Not because I have any real spite against it, I just happen to be quitting. It’s pretty important to my girlfriend that I do so; she’s the first girl I’ve dated who doesn’t have more baggage than an airport, and I really, really like her, much more so than I could ever like a cigarette.

I also plan to boycott the Cuban boycott. One of my goals this year is to find a way to vacation in Cuba. And despite the aforementioned tobacco thing, I will smoke one cigar, although I’ll have to talk to my girlfriend about it first, of course. One of my friends has a (legal, I think) plan involving South American passports.

I will continue my Nike boycott. I must admit that it started because their shoes didn’t fit me anymore, but it’s been probably 10 years or so and to this day I still don’t buy any of their various goods for ethical reasons.

I’m boycotting Islands because their food gave me the shits this last year. At first it was just the salads, but I went there recently and had a burger, which gave me the shits even worse. I can’t fathom what they’re doing to their food, because I’ve never reacted badly to burgers or salad and almost never get sick from food.

I’m also boycotting Christianity. I plan to patronize zero overtly Christian businesses (well, shit, OK, I’ll probably buy a sandwhich at Chick-Fil-A next time I’m in Arizona) and vote for zero politicians who let personal religious faith (of any kind, anyone’s) interfere with their work.

Ford, not only for making terrible cars and servicing them terribly, but also because the company is still in the family of the anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi founder.

I also plan to buy at least one item from a thrift store this year.

And destroys the lives of the hard-working folks who run sweet, quaint bookstores in your neighborhood?

Bolded text is mine.

Tom Cruise I understand. Why Steven Spielberg? Also, gigi, why Fruitopia?

I assume what you’re thinking of Fair Trade. Free Trade is a political movement, if not a political euphemism. See Mar del Plata, Argentina.

76

I just realized that my previous post could be seen as advertising. That was not intended, and I apologize if I’ve broken any board rules. The invitation to meet up for coffee is still extended, however.

77

Microsoft, they will not get my money. They screwed me over by charging me for a year of xbox live after i had canceled it. That caused me to overdraw my account. So I called customer support, and eventually got on the phone with a manager. He said they would call me back, and they never did. I did this 3 times. So between wells fargo(my bank who wouldn’t refund the overdraft fees) and microsoft, I am growing to hate large businesses.

78

Century 21, for giving me the whole “oh, you’re not Japanese… um, sorry, that apartment’s no longer available, even though we told your fiancee last night we’d show you two the place first thing in the morning” treatment.

Kinda pointless now that we own a place, but I’m still going to recommend people away from them. What was interesting is that we only got this kind of crap from realtors when we were looking for an apartment to rent. We we were looking to buy, we got the royal treatment from everyone we went to.

Sony, not because of the DRM thing, but because they’re one of our most miserable clients to deal with. We’d actually make more money if we dumped them. Anyway, their only big selling point over other makers is interconnectivity, but their internal structure is so disorganized that I wouldn’t trust any products from separate divisions to work together reliably.

McDonalds and Starbucks. Nothing ethical (I actually like the taste of both), I’m just trying to eat healthier in general.

Yukijirushi (Snow Brand) Milk. They put over 300 people in the hospital by cutting corners on health inspections and then tried to use the mad cow scare to rip off taxpayers. Screw 'em. And just because they’ve changed the company name to MegMilk doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to trust them again (besides, I know someone named Meg, and that’s just gross).

79

You know, my great-grandfather was, in many ways, not a very nice man. He was kind of a racist, and he was married four times.

Do any of his numerous sins attach to me, or are my sins my own? Can I keep the shotgun he once owned? If I someday inherit property in Pennsylvania originally bought by him with his own money, is it moral for me to keep it?

Punishing a company today for the actions of a man who built his first cars well over a century ago seems kind of silly to me.

80

Anything made by the Adolph Coors Company. That includes Coors and Molson beers.

Down the street from me is a CVS drugstore. Right across from that there used to be a little strip mall with a Gumby’s pizza parlor, a Chinese restaurant, a bar, several other small businesses. The landlord evicted them all and sold the land to Walgreen’s, which wanted it only because they’re trying to drive all CVS stores out of business, and they think they can do it by setting up their competition right next door. So they bulldozed the existing structures and built a Walgreen’s store, which opened last month. I think I’ll be boycotting Walgreen’s from now on. Competition is one thing, but that kind of tactic is just sick. And I liked that strip mall, ate and drank there a lot.

Walgreen’s has already driven our local chain of Eckerd’s drugstores out of business, BTW, and bought them out. A bit further down the street is a vacant Eckerd’s. The “for rent” sign has been out a couple of years now. What can you do with a vacant drugstore?