Answering People Who Think Boycotts Are Ineffective

You might be going about it completely wrong...

The previous letter I wrote about what people get wrong about boycotts received a really good question in the comments:

There's a section of people who believe in the ineffectiveness of boycotts unless we've alternatives to what we're boycotting, how to deal with them or their argument?

My answer ended up being fairly long.

And I think a lot of people might be faced with the question. So I’m writing this up so that you can share it with others…

Here was my answer:

This is because most people think boycotting is simply about taking money away from a company or government. In actual fact, it is supposed to be about using your consumer power to demand something in exchange for your loyalty or support.

And you must tell the company what you want and give them the opportunity to respond.

For example, you ask a company to publicly state they are against genocide. Why shouldn't they agree? They may be slow to agree. Or there may be another party telling them not to because they don't want to designate it as a genocide.

Either way, the main reason a company will do anything is based on how it affects their bottom line. It may be more profitable to agree with the other party. Why? Maybe they are more active in the consumer sector. Maybe they are more active in campaigning. Maybe they are able to promise them more customers.

That's what we need to figure out. We need to make it overwhelmingly bad for business [for companies to not publicly] support Palestine.

At the moment it simply is not. It is better for businesses to support Israel.

That's what boycotting is for.

It isn't for punishing a Muslim Starbucks owner until he goes out of business. You're supposed to be able to demonstrate that their sales will go up once they align themselves with your campaign.

I recently saw a post about Pepsi apparently putting a new design on bottles saying "Palestine" in Arabic. And the poster was saying don't buy it.

But personally, I think that's dumb.

Pepsi just made a move in support for Palestine. So what if it's just for sales!?

Think of all the rainbow flags on Pepsi bottles and how that helped their sales as well as spreading the message for people who can't decide what gender they are... and how all companies got on the bandwagon...

The problem with Muslims is that we desperately need to get over is this irrational need for perfect allies.

Why should companies and governments support us? We're never happy!

And we think an IDF soldier will fire his rifle and... wait no bullets... what happened? OMG Farjad didn't drink Starbucks yesterday! Those pesky boycotts!

No. Obviously not.

It's not about taking money away from the enemies. It's about getting companies to hear us.

When that Starbucks was close to shutting down, Muslims should have promised them--and followed through--to bring group after group of activists to drink coffee at that branch... as long as they made a statement in support of Palestine.

And... even if they didn't make a statement... the activists and the Muslim community should have [still] inundated them with sales... just to demonstrate what they are capable of.

To send a very loud message that supporting our cause is not just good for business but it's great for business. And if you don't, well then look at what can happen to your business.

The activists could have organised a social media campaign where they invite people to come and have an "awareness raising coffee break" at that Starbucks branch. Everyone could have been instructed on what to post and they could have invited news outlets to cover the story.

So boycotting is about using your consumer power. We should not use boycotting as collective punishment. Haven't we heard: collective punishment is wrong.

P.S. Something I should’ve added—because the question specifically mentions needing alternatives—is that your campaign can be even more effective if you demonstrate that you are going to divert their sales to their competitors. The problem is the solution.