:smack: Oh. That would make more sense, wouldn’t it?
I thought you had some kind of “time’s up!” boycott going on, where you would shop there again after a certain amount of time.
Sorry, I’m not usually that dense.
::: slinks off :::
McDonalds - I don’t like their food.
Taco Bell - ditto
Burger King - ditto
Jack in the Box - ditto
Circuit City - I hate them, they ripped me off and everyone I’ve ever known to shop there hates 'em too
Tom’s of Maine - for pro-life donations
Curves - ditto
U-Haul - because I hate them
Southwest Airlines - they gave my seat away for no reason, and I got felt up during an entire flight by an obese fellow passenger and the stewardess wouldn’t do anything about it
religion - because its for idiots
WalMart
Federal Express
ANd my rule of thumb for traveling (which I do quite a but) is: if I can eat at this restaurant at home, I won’t eat there (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Fridays, Applebees, etc). I try to avoid the corporate places and eat at the locally owned ones. Unfortunately, I’m not always perfect with this. Sometimes I just need something quick and cheap late at night, and the Golden Arches beckon.
No details???
[sigh] Alright. But that takes all the fun out of it. [/sigh]
I have a long grudge list against corporations:
- Charter Cable. Until they are forced to face competition.
- McDonald’s
- Paseo Colorado (the new yuppie shopping/condo behemoth here in Pasadena)
- Exxon/Mobil
- Any member of the Carlyle Group
- RIAA and Major Record Labels
- Microsoft
- Adobe
- Circuit City
- Good Guys
- NBC News
- Fox News
- Deja Vu Showgirls
- Mandalay Resort Group
- OSH
- LA Weekly
- All Chain Bookstores
- Hasbro/WoTC/TSR
- Anything bearing a likeness of Hello Kitty, Barney, Spongebob, Wiggles, Dora the Explorer or any other children’s character that exists primarily as a marketing tool.
Ok i give up why so many people with nestle?
Well I don’t go to some of these for other reasons.
Wal-Mart and Target - I’ve just had too many bad experiences at these stores.
K-mart always seems to have what I need and I don’t get the hassle.
Cracker Barrel - because if I’m gonna get bland food, I don’t want to pay and arma nd a leg for it. Yes, it’s country atmosphere is nice, but it doesn’t make up for the rest of it.
it was linked to earlier in the thread, but basically, they have a habit of dressing up as nurses, and giving free samples of baby formula to women in third world countries.
Doesn’t sound so bad eh?
Except that they give enough free product away that the mother’s breast milk supply dries up, and the mother is forced to continue with the formula. Because of extreme poverty, they almost always water it down too much, and use contaminated water, causing malnutrition and disease.
It was estimated at one time that 1/2 million babies were dying yearly because of this practice. And if the mother had just stuck with breast milk, everything would have been fine, except a nurse told them to switch.
Another for McDonalds
AT&T will never get another dime from me as long as I live.
There’s one I forgot about
SpecSavers–I wear glasses, and the TV ad campaign they used in Britain glorified verbal bullying of people who look ‘different’ (because they didn’t have the ‘stylish glasses’ sold by specsavers).
Years ago I boycotted Tango for the same basic reason, but at least they apologised and improved their marketing. Plus boycotting Coca-Cola and Tango at the same time is less than ideal 
Also, could someone who’s more deeply into these things give me a hand with the Nestle boycott–I know they make money from lots of other consumer products other than chocolate and coffee (and milk formula), but I’m not sure which ones.
Could we at least try to keep this thread on topic.
There are, it is true, umpteen threads throughout the Straight Dope Message Board discussing the belief choices of those more spiritual than ourselves. Unfortunately, this one happens to be about consumer boycotts!
Video Barn in Henrietta, NY- They charged me ten dollars because their tape got stuck in my VCR. I brought it in and they told me they would remove it. They specifically said there would be no charge. Then when I went back they told me I had to pay their standard ten dollar repair fee or they wouldn’t give me back my VCR. I never rented another tape from them.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t a global issue, but it pissed me off.
Political:
De Beers, and anyone who does business with them. (human rights)
Wal Mart (obvious reasons)
I try to avoid anything made in China and Myammar, though sometimes it can’t be avoided, especially for certain electronic components. (human rights)
Jack in the Box (Takes huge government handouts, fights common sense health regulations despite being known for food poisoning)
Fox News (obvious reasons)
NBC (same reasons as Fox News)
Any resaurant that serves freedom fries. (This is probably the easiest act of social protest that I’ve ever undertaken, since I don’t think any such restaurant exists. But if any one starts, I’ll be ready.)
CitiBank (funds stuff in Indonesia and China, assisted Enron and other corporate crooks)
Nike (human rights)
Various stuff that pisses me off:
Hardees (ad campaign)
Jack in the Box (ad campaign)
Del Rey Fantasy (prints crappy books)
Tor Fantasy (prints crappy books on crappy paper, they fall apart in about two months)
Carls Jr. (ad campaign)
Taco Bell (Ad campagin. Last year Washington Mutual ran an ad where a bad guy was inspired to become a good guy by the honest banker’s at Washington Mutual. We know he was bad at the start because we see him stealing from a kid’s lemonade stand. Now Taco Bell is running an ad telling us that stealing from a kid’s lemonade stand is good, because it indicates that you’re “not willing to settle for less”.)
Bud Light (Ad Campaign)
Oh, and while I’m no longer officially boycotting Coors, I still don’t buy their alleged beer.
Is anyone interested if I start a separate thread in Café Society about ‘ad campaigns that had the reverse effect to that which was intended by the advertiser’? (I probably better think of a snappier title first :D)
bluecanary, it sounds great. How about “When Marketing Goes Wrong”
iamthewalrus(:3=: Perfect. The thread’ll be up in a few minutes if you wish to post there 
My lovely, shiny, walrus-inspired thread is dying without trace. Deboycott it! I insist ;)!
There’s a place called Bray’s near my house that used to do this.
It’s kind of a White Castle archetectual style, but the food is much better (not hard to do)
Anyway, they used to have “Freedom Fries” on their menu, now it just reads “Fries”. I think they probably realized how stupid “Freedom Fries” were but felt “French Fries” were unpatriotic.
What’s wrong with taking on the English name for said fried potato-pieces: chips. Surely this avoids all that French/Freedom/Fablon whatever malarkey.