Forum Post: Can we organize a massive consumer boycott?
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 31, 2011, 3:09 a.m. EST by oaklandcami
(71)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Hello New York,
I'm a protestor in Oakland who is trying to get support for a proposal I plan to submit to the GA here, but it will only work if it goes nationwide.
To summarize: Consumer spending makes up 70% of economic activity in the U.S., and businesses make 25-40% of their profit during the holiday season. While our power as laborers in this country has been severely limited, we still have power as consumers. I propose that we refrain from buying holiday-related products (gifts, decorations, anything they're trying to boost sales for during the season) from the big companies at big retail chains this holiday season in favor of buying from small, local businesses and second-hand stores that benefit our communities, as well as making our own gifts and decorations. A lot of Americans will be cutting back on their holiday spending anyway, but we have the opportunity to turn the necessity to be frugal this year into a determined effort to reclaim our consumer power. If this were going to happen, it would need millions of participants, which means not only Occupiers getting involved, but Americans and consumers everywhere. I've already written the proposal, and the language is much more detailed and articulate than what I've written here. I'm particularly interested in finding people at other Occupy sites who would be willing to spearhead some form of this proposal. Questions, concerns, pros/cons, modifications, etc. are obviously welcome. If others are interested, please let me know if you'd like me to post the proposal in its entirety. You can also email me at oaklandcami@gmail.com.
i honestly dont see why we dont have more boycotts considering they would be very effective in making our point, like the bank switches that have been happening
http://knockknockrevolution.tumblr.com/post/11573860774/why-occupy-wall-street-flyers please give these out to non occupiers to convert them!
Looselyhuman--I've thought a lot about how hard this could be. At this stage it's only a proposal that hasn't really seen the light of day. I just think that with the momentum we're building as a global entity, it could work. We'd just really have to get every Occupy movement to get involved and publicize it in their regions, even minimally. Hopefully, the media would pick it up, and it would snowball from there. It's worth a try, right?
It's difficult to get unions to agree to strike, but buying is based solely on the individual consumer. And people are going to be spending less this year, anyway. Why not turn that into a statement?
For those who are interested, please, please email me if you are willing to present this proposal to your GA!
It's definitely worth a try.
Everywhere I go, I see people suggesting this, but no one else seems to actually be trying to organize it.
I think this is a good idea, I would just title it "Supoort Mom & Pop" instead of Boycott.
That might be a good idea. It might make it more attractive to a more general public. I've also heard Holiday Blackout and Blackout Friday as ideas.
Hey, don't overlook the retail employees. Black Friday would be the perfect day for a general strike. Most people already have the day off work, but the retail people.... Oh, if even 10% of the workforce didn't show up, that'd really screw up Black Friday.
That could also be effective. I hadn't thought about that. One issue that keeps coming up is the possibility (probability) of people losing their jobs. If people also strike on that day, they will DEFINITELY lose their jobs...
That's always a danger with a general strike. I mean, you could always use a sick day if you have 'em, but there ain't no way to change that doesn't involve risk. Ask yourself this, what matters more in the long run? Your shitty part time retail job, or sending the bosses a message? That's for each individual to answer themselves.
Maybe there will be a massive outbreak of "Black Friday Flu".
We should all stop driving cars
Not a bad plan for many people. Nevertheless, tactically what would that accomplish?
:Edit: See, action needs to be about achieving a goal, not about maintaining any kind of moral purity.
if the concern is addressing the people that run the worlds I'd look to the oil company
If only we could get Americans to stop driving cars! That's a big one.
Here's a link to the proposal I wrote:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1a8qsCado172yWwuoaCbzz9nkDkqKCLHFeHG-YB-3ybg
It's not perfect, but people can take it and add to it or change it as they see fit. The hook is that we want to boycott Black Friday, but we also want this boycott to be ongoing...
As for getting on the news occupy fox on nov 5th
I think the 99% is too enamored by Kim Kardasian's divorce to stop spending money for a day
everyone takes out $$$ on the same day. no deposits
how about boycotting banks instead?
We're doing both!
Why don't you just put it on blog or pastie then post a link here?
Here's another thread on the topic with more info:
Boycott Black Friday http://occupywallst.org/forum/black-friday-boycott/
Try to keep these bumped.
YES. I'm so glad other people are onto this!
C'mon OWS
Best thing you can do is to get the GA to make a formal announcement with a date. The rest will follow.
Agreed. I'm working hard to get this to my GA and get it approved. Either before or after that happens, I'm just trying to get the word out!
OWS is a tiny movement, despite what people would have you believe. It's not even close to the level of support that others have had. Even the tea party was larger and got a good number of people elected to congress.
I fully support any attempt to curtail spending into the landfill economy. As well as any attempt to reduce the taxes you pay to our murdering government. Stop enabling the exploitative plutocrats and the murdering violent government with personal choice. I applaud it and try to live by it myself.
That said, OWS just doesn't have the organization or leadership to get the numbers of people to participate in this for anyone to notice. These are exactly the sorts of actions that should be taken, along with general strikes, work slow downs, and other muscle flexing to make the 1% notice. The first step, if you want to evolve to the next stage where actions like these will be an effective attack on the established power structure, is to organize. Not under one hierarchy, but many.
The working groups must take control and grow into free-association hierarchies to get boots on the ground and to the fight, spreading the word and organizing mass boycotts like these which will in turn help recruit and spread the message directly to Americans what OWS is about.
It is a tiny movement, but boycotting is a way to not only perhaps attract the general public but also to make a bigger impact. Like I said, I think this thing has the potential to snowball...
If it can get organized and get the wallet-vote out.
I can't count the number of boycortts I've seen the last few years. I can't think of ONE in memory that even made a dent.
With people like me, it won't matter anyway. I never impulse buy, and mostly buy used when I have a choice, eps on big ticket items like cars. About all I buy new is the staples, food, toilet paper, the normal stuff that nobody cares about much.
Yes, I agree. We need to organize a massive boycott.
What I would love to see happen is a variety of things listed for people to boycott from. With specifics.
Such as:
Gas Fast Food Products Credit Card Bills Student Loan Debt (Pretty much any kind of loan, just walk away from it) Any kind of mainstream brand product Step away from paying any kind of bills (if people are willing to go to this extreme) Stop buying lottery tickets Transfer money from national banks to local/credit union Etc. Etc. Etc.
New ideas are awesome. Everyone could do their own kind of boycott and it will all amount to an incredible amount of damage :)
Edit: I forgot the hugest boycott ever. Black friday.
Yes! My original idea was to boycott Black Friday, but we need this to make more of an impact than that.
And the idea is that this will encourage successive boycotts and help start weening people off of their reliance on the products produced by companies who are in violation of OWS ethics and goals. But we have to start somewhere...
Well, people like seeing things that look official. It's a psychological thing. How about we create one unifying massive Boycott, as well as a seperate Black Friday Boycott event?
Facebook seems to be good at attracting people. We just need to make it easy on people so they don't have to think. Give them alternatives of each boycott item and promote local businesses.
Spam. Spam. Spam.
These are excellent ideas. Yasmine, would you be at all interested in taking this to OWS, or in finding someone or some people who will? We can't talk about publicity and getting the word out until we actually get people on board with it. Email me if this is something you wouldn't mind doing!
I really wish I could receive some feedback from OccupyWallSt (the username). Otherwise, it's very hard to track down people who are directly at the site. But, since it's a leaderless movement, this is no time to look to a leader.
let's take it upon ourselves. I can do this for Miami, while you can do this for Oakland. Talk this amongst yourselves and send me ideas. I'll pm you my email. I can also talk to some friends from occupytogether.org which is more global than national
I'll see if they already have ideas on this and we can promote this thing world-wide. :)
Wonderful! I've found some support in Oakland and will also continue to do that, and I'm going to keep trying to connect with OWS and people at other Occupy sites. I submitted this as a proposal on occupytogether.org forum, but I haven't checked back to see if anyone's responded today. I have a feeling it looks like just more spam to a lot of people =/
That's okay. All our ideas sound like spam. But if it really catches their interest and we back up our words with actions/organized plans, we can get people who agree with us (which would probably be more people than you can imagine) to jump on the 'bandwagon'.
I would really love to see this happen. You have no idea what can happen in a matter of seconds. :)
Yes:
According to the organizer, "Together we can ensure that these banking institutions will always remember the 5th of November!! If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions to non-profit credit unions on or by this date, we will send a clear message to the 1% that conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices. • Research your local credit union options • Open an account with the one that best suits your needs • Cancel all automatic withdrawals & deposits • Transfer your funds to the new account • Follow your bank's procedures to close your account before 11/05" http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281139538577206 Here is what I suggest: Do not move all of your funds. To put this big of a strain on the system may be irresponsible. Move some of your money out. Just opening an account will send the signal we need. To find a Credit Union: http://www.findacreditunion.com/ http://locator.cucentral.com/ http://www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk/
We expect recent efforts to boycott products produced by companies owned or controlled by the Koch brothers, (Charles and David), (pronounced "coke"), to grow in 2011, and will eventually include an effort to have pension funds drop the company's bonds. Their company, Georgia Pacific, has $10 billion in outstanding bonds. The organizers of the boycott are suggesting people not purchase things that their company produces, including: Brawny Towels, Dixie Cup Products, Angel Soft Toilet Paper, Mardi Gras Napkins, Quilted Northern Toilet Paper; and Stainmaster Carpets.
It's a great idea, but it's a problem for those of us celebrating Christmas who have young children. How do you explain to them why Santa didn't come?
A huge component of this is D.I.Y. and re-gifting, as well as supporting local and small businesses, second-hand stores, and local craft fairs. I'm not saying we shouldn't buy anything for the holidays, but that we should redirect where we put our money and our efforts.
I already planned to make all of the gifts I'm giving to my family this year, and none of them will actually require a lot of work. In fact, I'm giving my brother a voucher for help with his wedding--it requires about 10 minutes of my time to make a fancy little voucher, but he will redeem it later on. I'm taking pictures of my family and making my own frames to put up in my parents' house. It's all very simple stuff that will mean a lot to them.
And for my small cousins, I'm purchasing a bunch of loose, frilly items and jewelry at a consignment shop and making them a "treasure chest," as well as having them help me make a pile of decorations (paper chains, popcorn garlands, etc.). Are those things you'll consider doing with your wee ones? They could be fun!
Absolutely, all great ideas! I love the idea of the treasure chest! Thanks for the suggestion - let the creative juices flow :)
one side effect of this would be putting even more people out of work just before the holidays
This is another thing that occurred to me, and it's the primary con. I actually don't have a response for it because I don't want to put people out of work. I can only say that things are going to continue to get worse, and it's very likely they'll lose their jobs sooner or later anyway because they are on the bottom of the food chain, and there's no way companies can keep making the profits they're making off of the American consumer for much longer. But then, why make the holiday season harder, right? I'd really, really like to hear other thoughts on this aspect.
Hi Oaklandcami, Excellent. Lets do it. Best Regards, Nevada
Good idea to teach rich people a lesson.
I have a question, what is it that you want to boycott in the end? Whose pocket do you want to hurt? I think that it would be best to focus on the Corporations, who we know is involved in Child Labor in China for example, and boycott the specific products that are produced by them. This is about being fed up with the 1% taking our lives away from us, by firing those in our homeland, and hiring those for pennies a day, then selling those products back here for 100 times the price. I think a boycott should be a bit more focused.
(And I am planning to do research on Fortune 500 companies and make suggestions so that we could perhaps publish/circulate a target list, but at this stage I just want to know if others are on board with the idea.)
I was thinking that if we got the ball rolling, we could specify what companies, brands, and stores to boycott.
It is difficult to narrow it down that is for sure. It will take some time to research. I think that it would be interesting to see if we can find those in office, who have money in our defense systems, and where that money comes from, and what companies do they hide under? (They are the ones, that seem to like to keep the war going and spending our tax money)
not necessarily! there are many other reasons for wanting to boycott large corporations for example GE paid no U.S. taxes in 2010.
I think it's a good idea. I've been pushing the idea of the power of boycotts periodically over the last couple weeks and I think some are in agreement. I say go for it.
Iet's do it.
Hey, it's a good idea, and no problem posting here at all..
In my experience though, boycotts just never take off. I tried to help organize a Koch boycott several months ago, and lots of people thought it was a great idea, but, as far as I can tell, it had no impact. There are 300 million consumers in America and most are just not usually willing to give up anything or even bother to think when they shop. It's a culture of instant gratification consumption, which sucks..
I think the power of the consumer is overrated as a market force.
That said, I'm in. Especially Black Friday - I won't be spending a dime that day.
The strike is a much more powerful tool - if you can just get any of these tame unions with their "no strike" clauses, etc, to really join in. The longshore workers will be major if they actually walk out next Wednesday.
Anyway, good luck!
I only buy cards as it is, so I'm in.
P.S. I'm not trying to troll other Occupy boards. If no one is at all interested in this, I'll withdraw it and stick to working on it withiin my city.
Great. Xmas or The Hollidays is a hoax anyway. Created by big and small businesses to sell more products.
Celebrating birthdays with gifts is a hoax as well.
Halloweens not to mention.
Stop buying just because you are dictated. And if your kids will argue and be upset then teach them the reason why these silly hollidays was set in place and make them understand. Kids are not stupid.
So, simply get out of the race during xmas and enjoy life SAVING money while you can enjoy your holliday in NO stress.
Also you might consider selling your car. Do you really need it?
Also do you really need to eat a variety of foods? Eat oat cooked in water and add a little butter. Cheap and VERY healty.
Also stop buying reprocessed foods. Buy basic foods (such as oat).
Do you really need to buy this and that. Think 3 times before you decide to buy any item.
We have known it for 60+ years now,... consumer society kills us.
Also demand that people shall not pay rent on basic housing.
Electric shall be free up to a limit. Green production windmills etc. Want more then you pay.
Basic living must and shall be free. Public transportation shall be free.
Internet shall be free of cost.
You can have more and you pay.
So stop that silly xmas shopping and do not bother about santaclaus he is an invention made to consume more and more. Saint Nicholas was Okay but that is a different story.
Massive consumer boycott would absolutely sound sexual if I was drunk
No.
this is aiming for the Bulls eye because as you correctly say in USA the whole system is based on consumerism.I am wondering just as the corporations so heavily advertise and promote before Christmas whether you need to advertise your message as extensively as possible against spending? for example spelling out the advantages of saving money in these most uncertain times and getting people to ask themselves the question before they buy something -do I really need this product or service right now?