Like do they actually, reliably effect change in the way the activists intend?
Have they worked against Israel? Did they work against Apartheid South Africa? Could they work against Trump’s America?
My hunch is that they don’t, really, but can be a useful promotional tool for other issues. Like don’t buy American is a simple message. If people will listen to that, they may listen to reasons why, which maybe could build a movement.
But on the whole I am very sceptical, and would be interested in any reasons for or against boycotts.
Disney allegedly lost 1.7 million customers after suspending Jimmy Kimmel. He was very quickly reinstated.
It’s not that boycotts don’t work, it’s more that they require a critical mass to work and that can be hard to achieve.
edit: Holy shit disney just killed hulu.
What people boycott matters. So many products/services are effectively monopolized that only things people are willing to actually go without can effectively be boycotted.
It worked with Jimmy Kimmel because there’s neither a substitute entertainer that will satisfy cancelers nor is there an alternate disney owned streaming service -which didn’t remove kimmel- they can funnel said canceler’s to.
https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/the-6-companies-that-own-almost-all-media-infographic/
Also because Colbert previously was cancelled and that was already upsetting to many people. If Colbert wasn’t cancelled already We might not have seen enough people care when Kimmel was suspended
And most of them patted themselves on the shoulders and reactivated their accounts.
When enough people care collectively yeah. Rare.
Canadians vs Heinz Ketchup in the past and I think that one has stuck around somewhat to present day.
Canadians again vs American booze in response to 51st state threats. Yesterday’s headlines were about a continued drop in sales, down 85% this year so far.
Travel is down too. Not enough in my opinion, but enough that a few states are whining about it including Newsom in California. Fuck the USA.
Usually no though.
Boycotts just brought back * Jimmy Kimmel like 2 weeks ago.
BDS worked on South Africa, but it was a pariah state at the national level in most of the world. You have to get your taxes to stop going to Israel for that to work tbh.
Doesn’t mean I don’t participate. What little we can do does a little, and is worth doing.
Boycotts in general do work, absolutely. But it has to be a near-complete boycott, e.g. 90+% participation. Just a few will never work.
It doesn’t take anywhere close to 90%. Disney lost 1.3% of their subscribers before reversing their decision on Kimmel.
The key is getting media attention that survives one 24h cycle.
Exactly. It doesn’t need to be all, or even most. Just enough to make them unprofitable for long enough to where they panic. That seems a much lower bar and easier to meet.
The last time there was a general strike in the USA that generated real change… it took just 11 million people… about 10% of the working age at the time. These days, you could do it with a few choice professions… air traffic control, truckers, dock workers… the people that move the people and the goods would cripple the country in a week, maybe 2.
Know what works better than boycotts? A general strike. Stop the economy in its tracks. Have a clear, articulated goal. No leadership. No one to arrest. No one to identify as a troublemaker.
The trouble, when systemic, is the system. A boycott is meant to strike at an individual or group of allied organization(s). A general strike is the last level.
Governments tend to be allergic to general strikes. Their reactions are heavy-handed, thoughtless, and reactionary. Howard Zinn recounts several in A People’s History of the United States. But, when primed and done well, it is a demonstration of political will unlike any other. It is a change agent.
I was in Guatemala in 2015 for the one-day general strike that led to the arrest of then-President Otto Perez Molina. His party had been funnelling tax revenues into a slush fund. Look up #noletoca and #LaLinea. He was removed from the presidency, tried, convicted, and served time.
Like any kind of protest or political action they work often enough to get push back from those in power but are not a guarantee. Their scope also needs to be proportional to what they are boycotting, so the larger the company or political power the more coordination and number of people it takes to get results.
Last year there was a boycott of Sabra, which makes hummus, that successfully changed the ownership from half Pepsi Co and an Israeli company to get the Israeli company to divest. It had a clear goal and a single type of product that was easy for people to understand and get behind the boycott. If someone wanted to boycott Pepsi Co, which not only makes soda but also owns a ton of restaurants and other things, it would be extremely difficult as they could weather the losses in one area due to the scope of the company as a whole.
The Montgomery bus boycott during the US Civil Rights era was extremely successful.
If BDS didn’t work, it wouldn’t be illegal to promote BDS for Israel…
It can work, the impact increases the more support it has.
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It works, albeit imperfectly. In particular, it’s sometimes a difficult prospect for would-be participants who don’t have the luxury of choice. Also attention/bandwidth can limit participation since no one can sustain an endless game of whack-a-mole. Ultimately, it’s just one of many tools, but it has often been effective.
There’s VERY few services that the luxury of choice is not again for. A lot of the times that’s simply an excuse
Maybe yeah, I’m just talking about poor folks in rural areas who can’t boycott the only walmart or whatever.
Maybe a better example is Amazon. I have a rough idea how much it costs me to avoid that company and I know it might not be an easy option for someone on tighter margins.
