You should be boycotting these companies already because they support extreme right politics by their ALEC membership:
- FedEx
- UPS
- Motorola
- Anheuser Busch
- American Express
- Bose
- Chevron
- Marlboro
- Sony
- Texaco
- Boeing (fly on Airbus instead, see how to boycott Boeing)
You should be boycotting Amazon for many reasons.
If you oppose private prisons, then you already boycott these banks:
- #BankOfAmerica (#BofA)
- #FifthThird
- #JPMorgan #Chase
- #PNC Bank
- #Suntrust
- #USBank (#USBancorp)
- #WellsFargo
Don’t think they are out of reach to Europe – many European small banks that you assume are ethical actually outsource their investments to JP Morgan. Also, BofA uses different branding outside the US.
If you like transparency with food labeling, then you endorse labeling of #GMO food, in which case you boycott companies that lobbied against GMO labeling. There are hundreds of companies that fucked us over, but these are the top ten financers of anti-labeling lobby:
- PepsiCo
- Nestlé
- General Mills
- Coca-Cola
- ConAgra
- Campbell Soup
- The Hershey Company
- J.M. Smucker
- Kellogg
- Mondelez
Some of those mushroom into many brands. See the attached infographic.
So… Basically, what you are saying is just don’t buy anything, ever?
Because it’s damn near impossible to avoid Nestle, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mondelez and Kelloggs.
Great idea! /s
The only way to abstain from ALL of these is if you buy all the ingredients from the store and make it all yourself, especially if you want chocolate and such!
But for 99% of people, this is not a financially viable option.
Just don’t boycott US companies at this point, they are all entrenched in world markets.
Nestle is Swiss tho’
Orkla (Norway) has several chocolate brands across Scandinavia, same with Fazer (Finland)
Sorry, forgot that for a moment. I don’t know why and for what reason I thought they were American. Good to know, at least, even if I accidentally buy something owned by them, I know I’m supporting European businesses, rather than American businesses.
No worries. There are plenty of other reasons to avoid Nestlé :)
Well, yeah, that is true. But I just know that Nestle is not American and that gives me some peace because money won’t be going to American pockets. :)
As for the reasons, I totally agree that Nestle products are really bad in their policies and such.
I used to buy S. Pallegrino water but I momentarily stopped because I was under the impression that Nestle is American.
(Because this post is posted in a BoycottUS community and because I have a growing distaste for the US as a whole)
The less disciplined folks who still at least have enough constitution to boycott will patronize the lesser of evils. If you have a bit more self control, of course you can nix a whole category of whatever product.
I have to say if you struggle to avoid those brands you have an underdeveloped discipline and self control. Or if your problem is merely tracking all the brands, it’s a memory or attention deficeit. There are knock-off brands for most of it – which are always substantially cheaper. If you cannot find a knock-off Twix or whatever you think you can’t live without, shoplift it. I’m happy to buy Nestlé and Mondelez products from shoplifters.
It’s easier to find knock-offs or shoplifters in some cases. But indeed making it yourself is a decent approach. Instead of buying General Mills pancake mix, buy flour, baking soda, VegEgg (or eggs), and baking powder instead. It’s not going to kill you to give up a minuscule bit of convenience and add 2 or 3 more ingredients. If you make your own salsa and ketchup, you’ll find that what you make is better tailored to your taste than the junk that they try to make for the avg pallet.
99% of the time it’s the other way around. Buying knock-offs, shoplifting, or buying from shoplifters is far cheaper than a lifestyle of brand loyalty. These brands advertise the most and the products have the highest prices.
So your suggestion is “If you can’t buy it, just steal it bro”
Nice thinking lol.
As for the brands, you have absolutely NO IDEA just how deeply rooted all of these brands are. Especially Coca-Cola and the bunch. Up until today, I learned that Coca-Cola owns a very BIG, bottled water brand where I live. And it is not even listed on your infographic.
“Memory deficit” sorry, mate, but this is just not really a memory issue, there is simply too much brands for one person to keep up. I will be opening up my phone 20 times a day just so I can make sure that I don’t buy from any of those, and yet still accidentally buy from them. I could be at the grocery store tomorrow, buying milk that looks like a local brand but secretly it’s owned by one of the ones listed. Because the European Country I’M from is almost entirely unimportant and therefore the brands in it go unnoticed, so there’s no telling of who’s the real owner of the brands in my local grocery store.
I believe in the boycott and I am sure it is going to work. I have almost given up all of my US company consumption. A few exceptions still exist, obviously, but they are impossible to avoid nowadays.
Boycotting US companies is more than enough for me, and my main goal as of right now. Protesting about terrible companies, while certainly a good thing, and I wish I had the willpower to quit them fully, is not my concern at the moment.
I stopped drinking Sprite, Fanta, Coca-Cola, Mezzo Mix and the water brand Coca-Cola bought, as well as Fuzetea. And if I have a chocolate craving, I just buy from Lidl’s homebrand chocolate or Kinder Chocolate if I really want it.
I’ve stopped relying on U.S big tech as much, mainly: Google, Microsoft, Apple, Scamazon and Facebook. I don’t use (F)Elon Musk’s (e)X and for my music? I listen to it through Spotify for commercial ones and SoundCloud for underground people or straight up buy it from Bandcamp.
I don’t eat cereal or any of the “brand names” anymore. I’m just saying, that fusing two boycotts into one is very difficult unless you are absolutely dedicated, and the average person just does not care enough about either boycott.
Just ask my mom or all of my friends. They’ll tell you that they think it’s stupid OR that they can’t live without XYZ product, which is American.
Sorry for the long rant
Of course. You’re not grasping the point of boycotts and how they work. It doesn’t matter what you consume. It matters what you buy; and who you feed profit to (including data). Stealing Twix is even more effective than avoiding it because not only do you deny them your business, you also cost them.
Make all the excuses you want for lack of discipline. For me it’s worthless. You’re just inspiring other pushovers who don’t have enough self-control to give up their Apple Jacks.
Claiming that it’s okay to do nothing because you don’t have full transparency on all products… not sure who that excuse fools. You have the infographic that gives enough coverage to be able to make the most ethical decisions most of the time.
So you are okay with Lidl’s ties to Israel? That when customers boycotted Israeli produce (often grown on Palestine land), Lidl falsified the source as a different origin… you okay w/that?