An Elaboration on the Movement
As the creator of this movement, I wanted to make a post with some clarifications and further info that couldn’t be crammed onto our premise and weekly flyers. I want to use this as a reference for people to look at when they may have questions, or even complaints, about the subreddit.
I’ve seen some pushback from people saying that a short boycott isn’t going to do anything. I agree and disagree with this. I agree that boycotting a company like this won’t bring it to its knees immediately, or make them fix whatever issues they have with the way they’re run in an instant. However, I disagree that it’s wholly ineffective.
Historically, the way we’ve been approaching boycotts and protests hasn’t worked well for a lot of reasons - it’s hard to get a lot of people to unite on one plan and stick with it, and even more so if that plan involves giving up every product you buy at once, forever, with no alternatives in sight. By having a plan like the Weekly Boycott, it’s a regular commitment (every week) that is in an easy to digest format (flyers with all necessary info) and works on one thing at a time (single company and its products vs. all companies). There’s also the comment section underneath each flyer where people can share what products they’ve stopped buying/started buying as an alternative, so we can all work together and support each other through the boycotts (people are also welcome to make whole posts with their alternatives as well).
Hopefully by making boycotting a bit simpler, it makes it much easier for people to join the bandwagon. Once people find that they can participate in a movement like this, they may be more inclined to take part in larger protests and even lifelong boycotts. I’d like to think of the Weekly Boycott as a rallying cry, and a stepping stone towards larger, sweeping action against companies that sap everything they can out of this planet for the sake of money.
On the note of accessibility, the idea of boycotting multiple companies can be especially daunting for people who live in food deserts, are disabled, or are low income because their options are already limited by situations out of their control. My hope is that a boycotting schedule like this will make it easier for those people to participate in this kind of activism without having to completely uproot their entire lifestyle when they’re already struggling.
Another small point I’d like to make is this: some people just need a little push to give up certain products. Someone might just need a week of not buying something to realize “Hey, I’m actually totally fine not buying this, and don’t need to keep buying it once this week is up.” This obviously isn’t going to happen for everyone, for every product, but it is a potential and very welcome outcome!
Now about the actual flyers themselves… While every company’s flyer has a strong list of reasons to boycott, with sources, please note that not every single potential reason is listed due to space constraints. If you know of a reason we should be boycotting a brand, please share it with a source in the comments under their respective flyer!
The same idea goes for product and subsidiary listings. I try to list as many of the big and recognizable names as possible, but for most companies there are countless other regional or niche products that aren’t listed, hence the “check the label” section on every flyer as a reminder.
In regards to comments about whatever the company choice is of the week, please refrain from saying things along the lines of “I can’t give up ___” and then offering no further insight. It’s totally okay to not be able to give something up for accessibility reasons, and obviously discussions about alternatives are welcomed and highly encouraged. However comments like these aren’t necessary or productive in my opinion. You’re absolutely welcome to skip a week that you can’t participate in for whatever reason, but you don’t have to announce it!
In closing, I’d like to thank those of you who’ve taken the time to read this, those who have joined the subreddit, those who have spread the word, and those who will/have partaken in the boycotting! Please remember that we are all in this together, and that we are living through a class war. Give each other grace, share knowledge and resources with each other, and continue building community both online and in real life amongst your friends, family, and neighbors. We can support each other through this, even if things are going to get really bad for a while (again, or get worse than they are now). We will prevail in the end!