Are boycotts worth it? - NO! MORE! OREOS!

[Old Wizard]

In the age of massive Trump-supporting/opposing company blacklists, protests, and counterprotests, it's hard to ignore boycotts. Every time I need something, like affordable winter duck boots or fried chicken, I'm bombarded with "Haven't you heard? The owners are Trump supporters. Buy from somewhere else." The alternative is usually lower in quality or more expensive. Often the sentiment seems performative. "I boycott Chik Fil A because they don't support same-sex marriage" is a common statement from someone who still buys from Coca-Cola (#1 world polluter), Apple (slows older versions, self-repairs aren't allowed), Amazon (so many things, Jesus), and similar brands that aren't in line with their values.

Educated liberals are more likely to boycott in America, and (iirc) Germans boycott the most brands worldwide. The conservative push to boycott seems smaller. Every June when a brand makes rainbow beer cozies, or every time a corporate Twitter account makes an anti-Trump tweet, I see prompts to boycott on social media. It's unclear how much conservatives are actually boycotting the NFL, Walmart, and Pepsi however. There's a lot of internet outrage, but nothing to follow it up.

My question is- is there any purpose for this? Is all boycotting performative? Is it hypocritical for a liberal to buy from Chik Fil A, or for a conservative to subscribe to Netflix? Even if boycotts don't influence companies, is it still unethical to give money to companies who pollute or lobby for an end to net neutrality? Do you boycott any brands? Or is boycotting exceptional?

 

[JambledUpWords]

I boycott Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/ABC etc. already because old media is boring to me. Also, lots of places have gotten rid of comments sections on articles, and that’s at least half the fun right there. Watching the news isn’t that great either and really, I’d rather watch a relevant clip or two rather than a whole news segment and sit through commercials. Easiest boycott for me, especially since posters like @Arm Pit Cream and @CatParty just copy the articles onto here so I don’t have to give them any ad revenue. Easiest boycott ever thanks to the Farms. Now that I think about it doesn’t even feel like a real boycott since I’ve just lost interest, so there’s no real effort on my part. Based on old media’s ratings these days, I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way.

 

[Medulseur]

These brands are still around and making money no matter how hard they are boycotted, so I would say no.

 

[TheImportantFart]

Only time I ever saw a boycott work is when my secondary school boycotted a pizza delivery joint because they stopped throwing in a free drink with their large pizzas. Not only did the boycott work, but they started throwing in free ice cream too out of desperation to get us back. That was on a much smaller scale though - it wasn't a big pizza delivery company and we were their best customers so all it took was for us to tell them to get fucked before they caved.

To answer the question posed by the OP, I'd say no and it is largely a performative thing these days. I usually hear a lot of huffing and puffing, but not much in the way of actual change and I generally view people who do it as kind of faggy.

 

[Meat Pickle]

Boycotts only seems to work in local businesses. For large multinational corporations, boycotting them is futile because for every one person boycotting them thousands if not millions are still buying their products.

 

[deep crawler]

No, but it doesn't matter, you should still not do business with any company that has bad business practices out of principle. For me, however, I just buy whatever looks good. I try to avoid using Amazon because of the way their workers are treated, but in some respects they're just so damn competitive that I have no other choice. Plus it's not like anyone forces you to work for Amazon.

I also try to avoid P&G products whenever possible because of their woke nonsense.

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

Boycotts only seems to work in local businesses. For large multinational corporations, boycotting them is futile because for every one person boycotting them thousands if not millions are still buying their products.

No boycott works in the age of the consoomer.

 

[The Last Stand]

Money talks.

The point of a boycott is to voice your distaste with a company or product because X, Y, Z. Could be political, quality, ethics.

I would say it's your call of what to boycott and why. I would say it would work better for smaller stores and such than big corporations with exceptions.

 

[Bongocat]

I find that most brands who do the constant uber-woke stuff are pushing things you shouldn't be eating anyway. McDonalds, Oreos, sodas, ect. You should boycott them all the time purely for health reasons.

I try not to give money to people that hate me. For entertainment, that's easy (you know where to go). For food, that gets harder but at least there's usually plenty of brands to choose from and AT LEAST ONE OF THEM is usually not actively shouting "Burn Down Whitey's House". It's also important to buy from brands you support. That's especially important with local business.

But for a company like Google with more power than the federal government, no, boycotting is fucking pointless. They're not even "a competitor" at this point. They have their tentacles in everything you can name.

 

[Miss Misery]

As the commies say: There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.

 

[KingCoelacanth]

Boycotts only work when you make up a large part of the consumer base. For most international US corporations, boycotts won't do much. For the cocacola company, nabisco, mcdonalds, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if most of their customers are outside of the US at this point and even if every american boycotted their products, those companies could keep on keeping on.
Its like trying to strike if there's nothing to stop the factory from hiring scabs or relocating offshores.

 

[CrunkLord420]

Everyone should make informed purchasing decisions. The stupid consumer promotes the worst aspects of capitalism. The name-brand fashion industry is the prime example of something that should practically not exist. I don't call this boycotting, I call it voting with your dollars. When a company engages in anti-consumer behavior it should affect your purchasing decisions. It doesn't matter if you're a drop in the bucket. Buy the best product at the best price, fuck brands and fuck marketing. Feel free to add political shit to that evaluation but that should be a lesser factor, the optimal product doesn't have a marketing department let alone a woke one. As for food I buy the house brand of my local grocery store because it's cheaper and often a higher quality product.

Most of all stop being an consoomer, stop buying shit you don't need. Reduce and Reuse comes before Recycle.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Not really. Especially when most boycotts turn out to be for incredibly stupid things.

 

[Niggernerd]

Boycotts will never work these days.
People as a whole don't care about ethics, etc while pretending they do.
Take coonsumers of Nike. Those retards cry about muh slavery and oppression as they stick a new pair of shoes (made by chinese kids or Uyghur slaves) up their asshole

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

boycotts never work. maybe on small businesses but on giant corporations? hell no. too many people willing too CONSUME to have something called interregi.

 

[Jabroni]

Boycotts never actually impact a companies bottom line unless they’re small or carry out just in time manufacturing. Just throwing out 2% of their product doesn’t do anything to titans.

 

[Cyclonus]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boycott

The original one worked pretty well.

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Half the stuff we consoom isnt even good for us so who cares? Getting your groceries from the supermarket and pirating your media should be common sense.

 

[ClownBrew]

I boycott Woke Inc. not out of any illusions of harming their bottom line but just on principle. It's about not wanting myself to be one more smug bluepilled jackhead throwing gold coins at the beast.

As far as doing it as a status signalling move-- that's why I don't even mention it unless specifically asked about it like on this very post. I simply go about my business quietly buying the brand of sports supplements that DIDN'T feature the black golfer patting the cringing white caddie on the head.