# Who do you boycott? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152 "2000-12-05T16:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![horowitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@horowitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horowitz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/81 "2000-12-06T20:40:33Z")
Automobiles manufactured by **UAW** members. I managed a facility at one time that was going through initial contract negotiations with the union. Let’s just say that things got ugly and personal. Then I had the privilege of deciding grievances for 6 hours a day while the union tested the new contract. But hey I’m 14 and 0, not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/82 "2000-12-06T20:43:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AerynSun \* > That said, I’m interested in the whole Nestle thing. I never understood it, and the posts here are not enlightening me much. Anyone have some fairly unbiased sources for the facts involved? I’d be interested to see what the brouhaha is about. \*\* [From: TEN WORST THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS OF 1989 By Russell Mokhiber](http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/issues/1989/12/mm1289_05.html) > [@](#): > > The international boycott of Nestle products is still on. Nestle still markets its infant formula around the world to induce sales in violation of the World Health Organization (WHO) infant formula marketing code. Boycott organizers are concerned about Nestle’s marketing of the infant formula in Third World countries, where mothers often mix the formula with tainted or unsanitary water, leading to illness and death for hundreds of thousands of babies each year. According to UNICEF, at least one million babies could be saved each year through breastfeeding alone. An earlier worldwide boycott conducted in the 1970s was called off when organizers deemed Nestle to be in compliance with the WHO code, but the boycott call was renewed in October 1988 amid charges that Nestle had changed its practices and was no longer in compliance. They have been at this for more than a hundred years, and they spend more on publishing their “good works” than they spend on the “charitable” programs that promote their products in the third world over the specific objections of the nations where they act. The deaths of a few million infants count for nothing to them. To those of us who remember the previous two or three rounds of Nestle dancing their PR Flacks in chorus lines about how many great changes are made, this company has expended all possible good will. I will start buying Nestle when they bring the babies back to life. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/83 "2000-12-06T21:39:31Z")
I boycott those who put poll threads in forums other than IMHO 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/84 "2000-12-06T21:41:49Z")
Seriously, I can’t think of anything that I do boycott. I wish I could. Perhaps I boycott Burger King cause I don’t like their fries, but that’s it in a nutshell. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/85 "2000-12-06T22:44:27Z")
Whenever I find myself in the financial situation to do so, I fully intend to boycott Lexus. They really expect me to believe that their SUVs are better than my Jeep? Their commercials disgust me because they insinuate that Jeeps in general are not capable off-road vehicles. Well, lemme tell you a story about a little Jeep called the Willys-Overland MB… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/86 "2000-12-06T23:42:24Z")
Amazon also has sold, when available, copies of The Turner Diaries. I don’t think I will buy from them. I will not see a movie with Jane Fonda in it, or buy anything that might benefit her. I don’t want traitors to profit, at least not from me. ---
**Author:** ![sk8rixtx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sk8rixtx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sk8rixtx)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/87 "2000-12-06T23:46:03Z")
I boycott Mentos “the freshmaker”. Their commercials are the sorriest excuses for advertisement, since that damned Taco Bell dog. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/88 "2000-12-07T01:28:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by horowitz \* > \*\*Automobiles manufactured by **UAW** members. I managed a facility at one time that was going through initial contract negotiations with the union. Let’s just say that things got ugly and personal. > > \*\* Ok, help me out here. How do you buy a car in this country that doesn’t have the UAW stamp on it? I’m taking American made cars. Great Thread: I am personally trying to bring down several businesses by withholding my hard earned buck from them: **Kmart** : Because their stores are messy, unorganized and the sad excuses for help there would be better called \*Clerks of the Living Dead. \* **Joanne’s:** Because their staff members all have dull names like Delores and don’t know anything but where the bathroom is. **Duggan’s Irish Pub** ( local): For not allowing my brother in law to park in Valet because the regular lot was full and there was no one parked in VALET at all. Bastards. **Nike and Reebok:** Your shoes hurt my feet and you should be ashamed of yourselves for underpaying those nice asian people for making your crappy products. **Disney:** For making people think it is fun to pay a shit load of money to stand in line all fucking day for a ride that lasts about two minutes. **Professional Athletes:** Over paid schmucks. **Spot The Dog** (Its a children’s video/book/thing) At the end of the video the production company is named [sub]I kid you not [/sub] TV IS GOOD Inc. Naturally, this is my son’s favorite video, du jour. **Adam Sandler Movies.** This guy isn’t fit to take my garbage to the curb. **PBS Pledge Drives:** Look you have great shows, but your making my son cry every time you break into the Teletubby-Seseame Street\_Mr. Rogers morning hat trick by groveling for money. What’s next? Washing car windows with a dirty rag while I’m stopped at the intersection? \*\*NPR \*\* Goddammit, I love you guys and the music, but whomever does the newsreports has about as much enthusiam as a dead parrot. Stick a fire cracker up your backside. I’ll keep you all up to date with my progress reports of what conglomerates I’ve brought down. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/89 "2000-12-07T02:30:43Z")
Louie wrote: > [@](#): > > Little Caesar’s - they got rid of the 2 pizza deal, made their pizzas taste worst and overcharge everything. Little Caesar’s made their pizzas taste **worse**? I didn’t know such a thing was possible. I thought they were _already_ at the bottom of the scale. What did they do, add burning rubber to the ingredients? ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/90 "2000-12-07T03:10:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*Little Caesar’s made their pizzas taste **worse**? I didn’t know such a thing was possible. I thought they were _already_ at the bottom of the scale. What did they do, add burning rubber to the ingredients? \*\* Tastes like it :mad: ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/91 "2000-12-07T04:33:20Z")
I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this one yet: **Fry’s Electronics**. They have a shady reputation, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt… I now refuse to shop there after they sold me a cheap no-name brand CD drive in a shrink-wrapped Memorex box (advertised and sold as a Memorex), and wouldn’t take it back. I’ll leave the gory details out, but this was no “mistake” - it was fraud. After wrangling with them for months (and using the drive the whole time), I eventually capitulated. I realized that I didn’t really want to give it back and be forced to buy another CD drive, likely for more than I’d paid for this one. Practical concerns won out over principle there. They’ve lost my business permanently, though. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/92 "2000-12-07T05:38:59Z")
My only corporate boycott was L’Oriel cosmetics, because of their animal testing. I felt this was a great sacrifice, because they make some of my favorite products. Years went by, they eliminated their animal testing, and somehow I never knew about this. When I finally caught wind of it, I found several sources that said they did eliminate testing, that they didn’t really eliminate testing, that they eliminated some testing … That’s one of my biggest problems with the boycotts, I find it very difficult to find sources that I trust absolutely to give me the real skinny on the things these companies do. I tried to support small locally owned bookstores over the superstores … but this went out the window when I repeatedly tried to order specific titles from my local stores and met with poor service, rude employees, and huge delays. I finally ending up giving my business to Barnes & Noble, and I haven’t had a problem with special orders at the store, or their online site. I feel like I gave the local shops more than a fair chance to keep me as a customer. I don’t particularly boycott any charities, but I do try to find out as much as I can about the charities I do support. I guess I boycott some charities indirectly by choosing to support other organizations because they more closely match my own views and priorities. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/93 "2000-12-07T06:09:22Z")
Porsche, for changing the 911 so much Nissan, for discontinuing the Z Car Not that either has actually been put to the test yet. As for China, I figure that giving them money to practice capitalism will have a net positive effect overall. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/94 "2000-12-07T06:15:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xizor \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Rasa \* > > **the Red Cross (for not accepting blood from gay donors)** > > How do you boycott the Red Cross? Do they sell any products or services that you do not purchase? Or do you refuse their assistance after a disaster? I’m not questioning your reason, just how you go about boycotting them. \*\* Heh, yeah I shoulda been clearer. I guess I don’t really “boycott” them… but if I were able, I would not donate blood to them. I would go to another organization and donate there. I also encourage others do do the same. ---
**Author:** ![robinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@robinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinh)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/95 "2000-12-07T16:30:54Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* \*\* > [@](#): > > **PBS Pledge Drives:** Look you have great shows, but your making my son cry every time you break into the Teletubby-Seseame Street\_Mr. Rogers morning hat trick by groveling for money. What’s next? Washing car windows with a dirty rag while I’m stopped at the intersection?\*\* thank you, **Shirley** , for the best midmorning laugh I’ve had in weeks. **delphica** , _L’Oreal_ is owned by _Nestle_, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/96 "2000-12-07T18:30:42Z")
Did anyone mention Philip Morris? They only add insult ot injury with their cloying, hypocritical do-gooder commercials. The one with the old lady and the oranges sucked me right in the first time I saw it. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/97 "2000-12-07T19:01:00Z")
Ben & Jerry’s, for an incredibly predatory practice–their local franchisee located their ice cream shop right next door to a locally-owned ice cream shop. I mean, come on, at least one block down? I expect more from such a liberal company. Amoco, for screwing me on their credit card. QPB books, for being annoying, and for never using a return address on their bills. Barnes and [Noble.com](http://Noble.com), for reaching new customer service lows The boy scouts didn’t get any of my UW $$ this year. Any charity/non-profit (excect my alama mater) which elects to try phone calls to solicit my donation. La Leche League, for starting to get their priorities wrong, refusing to take any political stances, and having a bureaucratic philosophy that Fascists could take lessons from. And BTW, I don’t boycott Nestle absolutely, but I did refuse to try their Good Start formula (we supplemented nursing, and I tried every other brand). Nestle is 100% boycott-worthy for their third-world practices. There are other WHO guidelines for developed nations that all the formula companies violate, but Nestle violates them in their own special way and I get particularly irked about that. They are the only formula company which mass-markets their formula to the general public (the other companies “merely” violate WHO guidelines by all that back-door marketing to doctors, nurses, etc, and those stupid giveaways). But the mass marketing really pisses me off. Uh oh, am I ranting again? Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![zyzzyva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@zyzzyva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zyzzyva)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/98 "2000-12-07T19:12:21Z")
Well let’s see… we can start off with Ford, GM, Chrystler, Toyota, Nissan, Exxon, Texaco, Mobil… You get the point: i don’t drive! This is for political and environmental reasons more than for economic or pratical ones, so i’ll consider it a boycott. Also… Philip Morris, Nestle, Kraft, Starbucks, Blockbuster, PepsiCo, McDonalds, Safeway… oh hell there’s just way too many to remember. This is relatively easy for me, since i live in San Francisco and there’s organic food stores and independent restaurants aplenty. Woulda been impossible (or at least more trouble than it’s worth) back when i lived in Orlando. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/99 "2000-12-07T19:15:44Z")
Rats, I forgot: Northwest Airlines (which I just broke down and violated, damnit): In Detroit they are arrogant, clueless, indifferent, slow to get the baggage to you…god they’re just AWFUL! Living in Detroit, it ain’t easy to keep this one up. But we try. Any ebay seller which spends more time writing caveats and warnings and threatening prospective bidders with bad feedback for slow payment than they do describing their product American cars. If the cars don’t get you, the dealers will. And then the service departments… _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Teeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Dr.Teeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Teeth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152/100 "2000-12-07T19:26:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*I don’t have any real hard and fast boycotts, but whenever I have a choice between a huge coporate megaglomerate and something smaller, I’ll go smaller. \*\* I’m with you here, Smeggy. I’d love to see the renaissance of the corner grocery store, and lots of little independent shops, especially in this world of urban sprawl and a McD’s on every corner. Might I also add: I boycott K-MART. Why? Not for any high moral reason, but because, judging from their employees’ behavior, they all seem to be in the business of losing customers. The mindless K-Mart corporation clones the same bunch of mouth-breathing, walking-into-walls lobotomy patients, slaps nametags on their pasty carcasses, and optimistically calls them “employees.” Not able to find their asses with their own two hands? I don’t think they even know about the hands yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-boycott/44152.md?page=6)