Issue: The Boycott The Boycott - By: Pat Wechsler - SAGE Business Researcher
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Issue: The Boycott
The Boycott
By: Pat Wechsler
Pub. Date: May 1, 2017
Access Date: October 1, 2020
DOI: 10.1177/237455680313.n1
Source URL: http://businessresearcher.sagepub.com/sbr-1863-102636-2779297/20170501/the-boycott
©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Can it bring the powerful to heel?
Executive Summary
As consummate consumers, Americans have embraced the boycott as a distinctively American way to influence powerful people and
institutions. The internet and social media act as accelerants for activists launching boycotts, and the country’s deepening political
polarization in the Trump era has further encouraged people on both sides of the divide to vote with their wallets. Both the Left and the
Right maintain lengthy lists of businesses to be shunned. Some boycotts are successful in reducing sales; even when they fail to do so,
boycotts can damage a brand and serve as a lever for winning concessions.
Among the key takeaways:
Boycotts are most successful when the issue is easily understood and deeply felt, the boycotted company has numerous
competitors and the news media takes an interest.
President Trump has become a consumer litmus test, with his opponents boycotting retailers that carry his family brands and
supporters retaliating against companies that drop his brands.
A boycott can exact a stiff price: The state of North Carolina faced $3.76 billion in lost business over a now-repealed law that forced
transgender people to use bathrooms aligned with their birth gender.
Full Report
Rachel Veazey of Cleveland, Tenn., shows her support for President Trump by returning clothes to, and refusing to shop at, TJ
Maxx in February 2017. TJ Maxx and other retailers decided to stop carrying products by a company owned by Trump’s
daughter Ivanka because of poor sales; in return Trump supporters vowed to boycott the stores. (Shawn Poynter for The
Washington Post via Getty Images)
Pinpointing the incident that sets a movement in motion can be tricky. That’s not the case with the consumer boycotts against the sale of
products from President Donald Trump’s family.
On Oct. 25, a woman who identified herself only as Laura with the Twitter handle @SheWhoVotes posted an open letter to Nordstrom on
1
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©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. the social media site requesting that Ivanka Trump’s fashion line be dropped. 1 Describing herself as a loyal customer of the store, Laura wrote that she was having second thoughts about shopping there while it carried a label connected with a family that she and many others identified with “hate speech” against women and minorities. “I understand that Nordstrom cannot reasonably filter out every brand with questionable business practices or controversial figureheads,” Laura wrote. “But some brands are so toxic, they will hurt your business by alienating your customers, and this is surely one of them.” Laura was reacting to the just-released tape of Trump’s 2005 comments boasting that he could grope or kiss any woman he liked. She wasn’t alone. Shannon Coulter, owner of a small San Francisco digital marketing firm, had already created a website called #grabyourwallet with a list of businesses that carried Trump merchandise or did business with the family, including Macy’s, Walmart, Bloomingdale’s as well as Nordstrom. 2 Coulter encouraged consumers to spurn companies on the list and urged the businesses to drop Trump product lines. Laura, Coulter and millions of other consumers had found each other, and another American boycott was born. In an age of consumerism, the boycott – an organized protest that urges people to withhold patronage or participation in order to effect change – is a distinctively American form of resistance, connected to the cash register rather than the ballot box. It’s a consummate display of power by those responsible for the retail spending that has helped keep the United States the largest economy on the planet, and consumers have become skilled at wielding it against even the largest companies and most powerful people. “We may not have invented the boycott, but we have certainly perfected it,” says Thomas C. O’Guinn, a professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “Americans have come to define themselves more as consumers than as citizens. It is the role in which they finally have power over corporations and politicians, and with the help of the internet, they can flex that muscle with much more frequency and in much greater numbers.” It represents the politicization of consumption, O’Guinn says, a trend that started in the 1980s and has taken off in the internet age, turning the boycott into the weapon of choice for both the Left and the Right. “We may hate the polarization,” he says. “But no one can complain that we’re apathetic.” In this politically branded world, each side maintains websites with long lists of companies that no longer qualify for patronage. On the left are pop-up sites like #grabyourwallet, as well as long-standing guides to upholding progressive doctrine. One example: Ethical Consumer, a U.K.-based nonprofit website and magazine dedicated to “making global businesses more sustainable through consumer pressure,” updates lists of ongoing boycotts called by nonprofits and religious organizations and tells consumers how they can influence business conduct. 3 Left-leaning boycotts often target polluters and human- and animal-rights offenders. Among recent efforts: a boycott by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other nonprofits that persuaded SeaWorld to discontinue captive orca breeding, and another by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics that pressured Johnson & Johnson to reformulate its baby products to remove a formaldehyde- releasing preservative. 4 On the left, most big companies are potential targets, judged on their treatment of employees, carbon footprint and willingness to take stands against perceived injustices. Many of the Right’s boycott sites reflect fundamentalist Christian displeasure with corporate positions on such issues as gay marriage, laws and policies on transgender bathroom use and abortion. For instance, the American Family Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes fundamentalist Christian values, is boycotting the retailer Target for allowing transgender employees and customers to use gender restrooms of their choice. 5 Target Sales Declined After Calls for Boycott Company ended fourth quarter 2016 with 1.5 percent decrease Page 3 of 12 The Boycott SAGE Business Researcher
©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Source: “Target Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2016 Earnings,” Target, Feb. 28, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/m7zqqby; “Target Reports Third
Quarter 2016 Earnings,” Target, Nov. 16, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/mmqu5t9; “Target Reports Second Quarter 2016 Earnings,” Target, Aug. 17, 2016,
http://tinyurl.com/ngpdoly; “Target Reports First Quarter 2016 Earnings,” Target, May 18, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/mhg2c64
Calls for a boycott against Target after the retailer said it would allow transgender customers to use whichever
bathroom corresponds to their gender identity may have hurt the bottom line. The initial boycott call in the
second quarter of 2016 and a holiday-season boycott in the fourth quarter brought down sales compared to
the same periods in the previous year.
The website BibleBlender.com runs the “the big list of anti-religious/un-Christian companies, celebrities and geographic locations in the
U.S.” and encourages Christians to avoid doing business with them entirely or at least “take the time to write … and let them know you
disagree with their moral stance.” 6 There are 132 companies on the alphabetized list, drawn from practically every industry, including
Airbnb, American Express, Chevron, Dow Chemical, JPMorgan Chase, JetBlue, Microsoft, PayPal, Sears and Verizon.
It also lists 41 celebrities, identified as individuals who “publicly support policies, laws, or standards which Christians deem inappropriate
and immoral or who have publicly denounced religion and/or Christianity.” The compilation includes singers Bette Midler and Miley Cyrus,
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, comedian Bill Maher, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Donald Trump.
Finally, 16 destinations are cited as places to avoid if possible, including Indianapolis, Denver, West Palm Beach, San Diego,
Washington, D.C., and the entire states of Washington, New York, California and Connecticut.
Over the years, the National Rifle Association (NRA) also has staged boycotts against what it calls anti-gun corporations. On recent lists:
Hallmark, Sara Lee, Costco and Walgreen’s.
A favorite conservative target is Starbucks, because of executive chairman and former CEO Howard Schultz’s willingness to take stands
on topics such as gay marriage. Most recently, the Seattle-based company offended Trump supporters with a pledge to hire 10,000
refugees over five years in 75 countries, and with its opposition to the wall proposed by the president for the Mexican-U.S. border.
#BoycottStarbucks appeared shortly after Schultz issued the commitment to refugees in reaction to Trump’s travel ban in January. 7
Starbucks wasn’t alone in ending up on a boycott list because of that executive order. The ride-sharing service Uber also faced a backlash
from Trump critics after the company turned off surge pricing during a strike by New York City cab drivers at JFK International Airport to
protest the travel ban. Turning off surge pricing reportedly increased Uber’s business; it also led to accusations that the company was
undermining the strike. 8
The company was already in hot water with left-leaning consumers. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sat on Trump’s economic advisory council
until employee and consumer protests prompted him to step down. And a former employee has accused Uber of ignoring her claim of
sexual harassment by her supervisor. 9
While more than 200,000 people have deleted the app, Uber remains the most popular ride-sharing app by far. 10 As Brayden King, a
professor of management and organization at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, told The Atlantic, even when
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people are ideologically aligned with a boycott, they often have trouble following through because it’s inconvenient or they don’t like or
know their alternatives. 11
Take, for instance, the 2003 move in the United States to boycott French wines in response to that nation’s opposition to the U.S. war
effort in Iraq. Initially, it created a 26 percent dip in sales, but eventually sales returned to their previous trajectory, according to one
academic study. 12 In this case, however, the efficacy of the boycott also may have reflected shifting U.S. sentiments on the Iraq war.
Conservative research group 2nd Vote recommends that if companies want to avoid boycotts, they should try to stay neutral on political
issues. The organization scores companies on whether they support liberal or conservative causes and recommends that conservatives
patronize ones leaning right. For instance, at tax time, the group proposed using Jackson-Hewitt over H&R Block because Block has
donated money to the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. Block also gave money to the Natural Resources Defense Council,
an environmental group, and the United Way, which has funded Planned Parenthood.
Putting money behind an issue really isn’t any different than contributing to a candidate, says Robert Kuykendall, a spokesperson for 2nd
Vote. “Issues are so complicated and the country is so polarized now,” Kuykendall says. “If you take a position on a political issue, you’re
almost guaranteed to anger 50 percent of your customers. And these days with the help of social media, that little bit of anger can develop
into a boycott overnight.”
Just ask Anheuser-Busch. For the Super Bowl, the company created an advertisement celebrating its founders’ immigrant history – and
ran smack into boycott calls from Trump supporters who accused the brewer of indirectly criticizing the Muslim immigration ban and other
immigration policies. 13 One tweet from Italian Guy @mycountry2017 reads, “#boycott Hit them where it hurts: Starbucks, Pepsi,
Nordstrom, Budweiser … list growing.”
And boycotts definitely can hurt. In 1995, the environmental group Greenpeace launched a boycott of Shell in Germany that ultimately
reduced the oil company’s sales in that country by 40 percent. 14 The pain may also be reputational. Boycotts of big brands usually
generate extensive media coverage, and companies sometimes relent before much impact is felt in sales, calculating that damage to
reputation can be harder to undo, professor Daniel Diermeier of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University wrote in
2012. 15
Still, Diermeier argued that most boycotts fail to make a real impact on sales. In his 2012 Harvard Business Review article, he outlined
four key components for a successful boycott. 16
Customers must care deeply about an issue and feel a sense of moral outrage.
The cost of participation must be low. This is why activists often target a retailer or oil company, since there are plenty of alternatives.
The issues should be easy to understand. This explains why the ongoing boycott against fur has been successful in changing
consumer tastes and getting retailers to avoid selling fur.
Social media can take a boycott a long way, but ultimately it must garner mass media coverage to grow to a size where it can make
an impact.
Not Going for the Gold
While boycotts are usually aimed at a particular business or industry, they can also be directed at governments or places. In 1980,
President Jimmy Carter led a boycott of that year’s Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of
Afghanistan. While as many as 65 nations participated in the boycott, it did not get the Soviets out of Afghanistan; they stayed for another
decade. 17 In 1984, the Soviets retaliated by boycotting the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, but mostly only Communist-bloc nations
joined them. 18
More recently, African-American performers called for a boycott of the 2016 Academy Awards after two consecutive years with no black
nominees in the best actor or supporting actor categories, despite critically acclaimed performances by African-Americans in those
years. 19
In 2017, things were different. There were African-Americans among the nominees in all of the acting categories; in fact, three of the five
nominees for best supporting actress were black. And both best supporting awards went to black performers: Viola Davis in “Fences” and
Mahershala Ali from “Moonlight.” The Oscar for best film went to “Moonlight,” a story of an African-American gay man that was written and
directed by African-Americans.
But there was still talk of an Oscar boycott – this time by Trump supporters angered over harsh criticism of the president by several
performers. 20
Some of the most effective boycotts have been against states over laws or policies, says Lawrence Glickman, an American studies
professor at Cornell University. The National Football League has twice threatened to move the Super Bowl from Arizona: in 1993, when
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the state did lose the game because it refused to recognize Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a state as well as a national holiday, and
again in 2015 when the state legislature passed a measure to allow businesses to refuse to serve gay and transgender customers for
religious reasons. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer avoided a second loss of the big game by vetoing the bill.
The NCAA, the organization that governs college athletics, boycotted North Carolina, saying it would not play any championships there,
after the state in 2016 enacted a law that forced transgender people to use bathrooms aligned with their birth gender. 21 After the state in
March repealed the law and replaced it with a less stringent version, the NCAA ended its boycott “reluctantly,” warning that it could change
its mind if the new law ends up allowing discrimination. 22
Boycotts by any sports league and by business in general can be even more
potent than consumer boycotts. An Associated Press analysis found that
North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” would have cost the state more than $3.76
billion in lost business over the next 12 years. 23 “These kinds of boycotts
have made legislatures think twice before passing discriminatory laws,”
Glickman says.
In the increasingly polarized atmosphere surrounding Trump’s presidency,
consumers and businesses are boycotting Trump allies, such as the Breitbart
News Network, the “alt-right” news service that White House chief strategist
Steve Bannon once ran, and Breitbart’s advertisers. Before the Fox network
dropped news commentator Bill O’Reilly on April 19, his program and its
advertisers also were targeted because of sexual harassment accusations
against O’Reilly.
Breitbart fired back, calling for its own boycott of cereal maker Kellogg after it
decided to cancel its Breitbart advertising because it said the website’s
positions were not in sync with American values. 24 While there’s nothing new
in conservatives calling for boycotts against corporations, some observers
say the situation takes on a different character because of Bannon’s White
House position.
“By sponsoring a boycott against Kellogg’s, Breitbart is implicitly using the
political power of the [president] to publicly harass and tarnish the reputation
of an American business,” wrote Northwestern’s King and Mary-Hunter
McDonnell, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania. “Their message is clear: If you don’t openly
endorse their radical right political agenda, they will use their political clout to
smash you. This is unprecedented to say the least.” 25
(The Kellogg School of Management where King teaches is named after John
L. Kellogg, the son of the founder of the Battle Creek, Mich., cereal company.)
King and McDonnell wrote that Trump used similar tactics when he was a
presidential candidate. He called on his supporters to stop patronizing North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” led to protests, including this
Starbucks for discontinuing Christmas-themed cups, Apple for opposing a one in Raleigh in May 2016, and boycotts by the NCAA and
judicial order that it saw as a threat to its customers’ privacy, and Macy’s for others. An Associated Press analysis found that North
canceling its partnership with Trump to produce suits and ties after he called Carolina’s law would have cost the state more than $3.76 billion
Mexican immigrants “rapists.” 26 in lost business over 12 years. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call via
Getty Images)
Maybe so, but there is some question today about whether companies should
fear – or welcome – a Trump rebuke. In a poll by NBC News and Simmons
Research released in April, only 18 percent of Americans said they would be more likely to buy a product with a Trump endorsement, and
more than three-quarters said they would be more likely to avoid the product. 27
Free Speech or Bullying?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982, in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., that a boycott was constitutionally protected speech. 28
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that “one of the foundations of our society is the right of individuals to combine with other persons in
pursuit of a common goal by lawful means.’’ 29
There are others, however, who see boycotts as a form of bullying or even coercion. In January 2017, #grabyourwallet added apparel
retailer L.L. Bean to its boycott list after Linda Bean, the granddaughter of the company’s founder, gave – improperly, it turns out –
$60,000 to a pro-Trump political action committee. (The federal maximum for such a contribution is $5,000.) 30
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Trump compounded the problem for the company when he posted a thank-you tweet to Linda Bean, who also is a member of the L.L.
Bean board, earning $200,000 a year. He ended the tweet by telling people to go “Buy L.L.Bean.”
“It’s bullying,” Linda Bean said of the anti-Trump boycott in an interview on the Fox Business Network. “They want to control how we spend
our money, what we buy, where we buy it. That’s wrong, it’s un-American.” 31
As American as Apple Pie
In fact, there are few things more American than a boycott. Its use dates back to before the Revolution. In the 1760s, the 13 colonies
refused to buy from British merchants after Parliament imposed import taxes on British goods; the colonies famously labeled it taxation
without representation. The boycott was successful, forcing Parliament to repeal the levies, except for one nuisance tax on tea (which, of
course, generated its own memorable protest and helped spark the Revolution).
Rosa Parks (center in dark coat) waits to board a bus at the end of the Montgomery bus boycott in December 1956. Civil rights
activists had organized the boycott to protest Parks’ arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. (Don
Cravens/The Life Images Collection/Getty Images)
In the 1880s, the use of boycotts became extensive as a tool to help workers organize unions and win better wages and working
conditions, according to Cornell’s Glickman. At one point in New York City, there were as many as 1,200 separate boycotts going on
against businesses ranging from large conglomerates to local bakeries, Glickman notes. One of the city’s newspapers regularly ran a list;
according to Glickman, a leader of the powerful labor organization, the Knights of Labor, once joked that it was becoming almost
impossible to know where a person could and couldn’t shop.
In 1955 civil rights activists, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, organized a boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Ala., after seamstress
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Car pools were organized to help the
supporters commute to work; some white bosses even agreed to drive their African-American employees. Black passengers accounted
for three-fourths of the ridership on city buses, so the economic pressure was real, but the segregation wasn’t eliminated until the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled the practice unconstitutional more than a year after the boycott began. In the end, the boycott was considered a
success because of the media coverage it garnered that led to changes in public opinion.
Labor’s Fruit
The Delano, Calif., table grapes boycott, led by union organizer Cesar Chavez, was a clearer economic victory. At the time, migrant
32
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farmworkers were among the most poorly paid workers in the United States, usually earning below minimum wage. 32 In 1965, Chavez
called for a boycott of California table grapes when growers refused to pay workers minimum wage or collectively bargain with the union
Chavez led, which eventually became the United Farm Workers (UFW).
At its peak, in 1969, a consumer survey showed the boycott had 17 million supporters nationwide. Ultimately, in 1970, the growers signed
a contract with the UFW, raising wages and providing safer working conditions. Taking place in an era of civil rights and anti-Vietnam War
protests, the grape boycott owed some of its success to a highly politicized population.
Another story may be a little less well-known, but it may be the biggest boycott success story of all. In 2009, student activists persuaded
almost 100 colleges to cancel their contracts, some worth in excess of $1 million, with Russell Athletic, the division of Fruit of Loom that
puts university logos on t-shirts, sweatshirts and athletic wear. The boycott was a response to Russell’s decision to close one of its
Honduran factories after workers unionized. 33 Ultimately, to avoid losing business, Russell reopened the factory, rehired the original
1,200 workers and compensated them for their lost wages. One estimate put Fruit of the Loom’s losses from the episode at about $50
million. 34
So the economic threat from boycotts holds the potential of doing real damage, and executives are
increasingly nervous these days about offending one side or the other, lest they get an angry tweet from the
president or trigger a consumer protest.
“Executives feel particularly vulnerable because it’s so hard to predict what will run afoul of the Left or
Right,” says Wisconsin’s O’Guinn, who says companies often ask him for advice on how to conduct
themselves in the marketplace. “They want to stay on the right side of history, but in the end companies tend
to play it safe. They stick to promoting inclusivity and human rights. In this country, you’d think that would be
a safer choice than it sometimes turns out to be.”
Six months after Laura posted her open letter and cited #grabyourwallet, the website is averaging 2 million
visitors a month and the hashtag has been shared 950 million times on social media. Nordstrom has
stopped selling Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories, citing poor sales performance. Fourteen other
major retailers, including Neiman Marcus, Marshalls and Bed Bath & Beyond, have made a similar
decision. The Nordstrom move prompted an angry tweet from the president, who accused the store of
treating his daughter unfairly. 35
Coulter, the creator of #grabyourwallet, says the boycott has resonated because it is “perfect for people
who feel strongly about something but don’t feel comfortable hitting the streets to protest. All they have to do
Thomas O’Guinn: “Executives is shop differently.” And she adds: “I also love the idea of a boycott because it’s about the underdog finally
feel particularly vulnerable getting to make a stand and say, ‘enough.’ ”
because it’s so hard to predict
what will run afoul of the Left or
Right.” About the Author
Pat Wechsler is a veteran journalist who has held senior editing and writing positions at Businessweek,
Chronology
1765 The Stamp and Townshend acts inspire America’s first political boycotts, prompting colonists to refuse to buy British
goods in protest of new import taxes. Eventually, the British lift the taxes, except for those on tea.
1880 Charles Boycott, an English land agent working in Ireland, becomes the eponym of organized consumer resistance as
a means of protest after he tries to evict tenant farmers.
1955 African-Americans in Montgomery, Ala., boycott city buses to protest seamstress Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to
give up her seat to a white passenger and to demand an end to egregation on the city’s buses.
1965 The California Table Grape Boycott begins; it eventually forces growers to sign a contract with the United Farm
Workers union for better wages and working conditions.
1980 Sixty-five nations support President Jimmy Carter’s boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympic Games to protest the
Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
1982 In NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., the U.S. Supreme Court rules that boycotts are constitutionally protected
speech.
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1990s Consumers boycott Nike to protest the athletic apparel maker’s practice of hiring 14-year-olds in Asia and making
them work long hours for almost no pay.
1991 The National Football League moves the 1993 Super Bowl from Arizona because the state refuses to recognize Martin
Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a holiday.
2009 Students at 96 universities a boycott Fruit of the Loom to protest the clothing maker’s closure of a Honduran plant after
workers voted to unionize.
2014 The National Football League helps defeat an Arizona bill that would have allowed businesses to refuse to serve gay
customers for religious reasons by threatening to move the 2015 Super Bowl from Glendale, Ariz.
2016 The #grabyourwallet website, which maintains lists of companies selling Trump products, calls for a boycott of Trump
family businesses during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
2017 At least 15 retailers drop the fashion line of Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Trump, amid pressure from critics
and because of poor sales.
Resources for Further Study
Bibliography
Books
Friedman, Monroe, “Consumer Boycotts: Effecting Change Through the Marketplace and Media,” Routledge, 1999. A psychology
professor at Eastern Michigan University analyzes the evolution of boycotts and the growing importance of media coverage through
academic research as well as interviews with boycott targets and protest groups.
Articles
“How should companies navigate polarized politics in the Trump era?” PBS NewsHour, Feb. 9, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/l9ty8gb. Polarized
politics in the United States is making life difficult for companies.
Abrams, Rachel, “Nordstrom Drops Ivanka Trump Brand From Its Stores,” The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/j7qmf6o.
Nordstrom says it is dropping Ivanka Trump’s line of clothing and accessories because of poor sales.
Chinni, Dante, and Sally Bronston, “Trump Product Endorsements Drive Consumers … Away,” NBC News, April 9, 2017,
http://tinyurl.com/lnrl6nm. An NBC poll looks at whether a Trump endorsement would make people more or less willing to buy something.
Diermeier, Daniel, “When Do Company Boycotts Work?” Harvard Business Review, Aug. 6, 2012, http://tinyurl.com/ze72h7m. A
Northwestern University professor looks at what elements make a great boycott.
Halzack, Sarah, “Trump lashes out at Nordstrom in a tweet for dropping his daughter’s apparel line,” The Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2017,
http://tinyurl.com/kvcmna9. After Nordstrom drops Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, the president attacks the department store in a tweet.
Kell, John, “Starbucks Faces Boycott After Pledging to Hire Refugees,” Fortune, Jan. 30, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/zlls5vr. Starbucks
becomes a target of pro-Trump activists who threaten a boycott.
King, Brayden, “Why boycotts succeed – and fail,” Kellogg Insight, Aug. 1, 2009, http://tinyurl.com/ldbqy7g. A Northwestern University
professor examines why some boycotts succeed and why some fail.
King, Brayden, and Mary-Hunter McDonnell, “What the Breitbart-Kellogg Feud Says About the Next Era of American Politics,” Fortune,
Dec. 13, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/mt5ypxd. Two professors look at how Steve Bannon’s White House job changes the implications of the
Kellogg-Breitbart feud.
Peterson, Hayley, “An open letter calling on Nordstrom to drop Ivanka Trump’s ‘toxic’ brand is going viral,” Business Insider, Oct. 27, 2016,
http://tinyurl.com/lpkq8k7. A letter from a shopper helps ignite the boycott against Trump family merchandise.
Reports and Studies
“Political Polarization in the American Public,” Pew Research Center, June 12, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/p4scahz. A think tank and polling
center looks at how Democrats and Republicans have moved further away from each other.
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The Boycott
SAGE Business Researcher©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Tankersley, Jim, “Donald Trump lost most of the American economy in this election,” The Washington Post, Nov. 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/mqkl6xw. A study shows that the counties Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won represent the majority of economic activity in the United States. Watson, Bruce, “Do boycotts really work?” The Guardian, Jan. 6, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/kn4cv5x. Boycotts have proved successful when they attract media coverage and capitalize on their participants’ moral outrage. The Next Step Advertiser Boycotts Abrams, Abigail, “More Than 60 Advertisers Have Dumped Bill O’Reilly’s Show After Sexual Harassment Allegations,” Time, April 6, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/knx64ph. Sixty-two advertisers pulled commercials from “The O’Reilly Factor” timeslot in response to uproar over sexual assault allegations made against Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Ingram, Mathew, “Advertising Boycott of Breitbart News Appears to Be Growing,” Fortune, Feb. 21, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/hhhyqav. Global advertising company Omnicom advised its employees to avoid putting any ads for their brand clients on conservative website Breitbart News, according to a leaked memo. O’Reilly, Lara, “The real motivations behind the growing YouTube advertiser boycott,” Business Insider, March 22, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/knw2az6. More than 250 brands are boycotting YouTube by suspending their advertising campaigns until parent company Google can ensure that their ads will not be placed next to extremist content or videos containing hate speech. Boycotts in Sports Berkman, Seth, “U.S. Women’s Team Strikes a Deal With U.S.A. Hockey,” The New York Times, March 28, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/n5zjzln. After threatening to boycott the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship unless they received more adequate compensation, the U.S. women’s hockey team and USA Hockey reached a deal that gives the women’s team equal support to that of the men’s team. Lynch, Andrew, “Warriors’ Draymond Green encourages Raiders fans to boycott games in Oakland,” Fox Sports, March 29, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/mrnyquu. Basketball forward Draymond Green of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who are located in Oakland, Calif., encouraged Raiders fans to stop going to the NFL team’s games in Oakland in protest of the franchise’s move to Las Vegas in 2020. Moore, Evan F., “NCAA Lifts North Carolina Boycott After Bathroom Ban Repeal,” Rolling Stone, April 4, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/kn254px. The NCAA ended its boycott of events in North Carolina after the state replaced its controversial “bathroom bill,” which banned people from using restrooms that did not correspond to their sex. Organizations American Anthropological Association 2300 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1301, Arlington, VA 22201 1-703-528-1902 www.americananthro.org/ members@americananthro.org World’s largest association for professional anthropologists, with more than 10,000 members. American Family Association PO Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803 1-662-844-5036 www.afa.net Faith-based organization and website promoting pro-family values in popular culture and corporations. American Studies Association 1120 19th St., N.W., Suite 301, Washington, DC 20036 1-202-467-4783 www.theasa.net asastaff@theasa.net Organization dedicated to furthering American studies in higher education. Ethical Consumer Unit 21, 41 Old Birley St., Manchester, M15 5RF, UK Page 10 of 12 The Boycott SAGE Business Researcher
©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. +44-161 226 2929 www.ethicalconsumer.org Liberal website and magazine dedicated to making global businesses more sustainable through consumer pressure. #GrabYourWallet Shannon@grabyourwallet.org https://grabyourwallet.org Website dedicated to boycotting Trump family products and other liberal causes. Notes [1] Hayley Peterson, “An open letter calling on Nordstrom to drop Ivanka Trump’s ‘toxic’ brand is going viral,” Business Insider, Oct. 27, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/lpkq8k7. [2] #grabyourwallet, http://tinyurl.com/h6d7n23. [3] “List of Consumer Boycotts,” Ethical Consumer, last updated March 2016, http://tinyurl.com/po6w5ef. [4] “History of Successful Boycotts,” Ethical Consumer, last updated May 2016, http://tinyurl.com/7yzv3yd. [5] “Sign the Boycott Target Pledge!” American Family Association, April 20, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/k8nwu59. [6] “The big list of anti-religious/un-Christian businesses, celebrities, and geographic locations in the U.S.,” BibleBlender.com, April 23, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/mh4cn3e. [7] John Kell, “Starbucks Faces Boycott After Pledging to Hire Refugees,” Fortune, Jan. 30, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/zlls5vr. [8] Alana Semuels, “Why #DeleteUber and Other Boycotts Matter,” The Atlantic, Feb. 22, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/kqkdl2p. [9] Mike Isaac, “Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee,” The New York Times, Feb. 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/kvezne7. [10] Semuels, op. cit. [11] Ibid. [12] Larry Chavis and Phillip Leslie, “Consumer Boycotts: The Impact of the Iraq War on French Wine Sales in the U.S.,” May 2007, http://tinyurl.com/kyox3rk. [13] Cindy Boren, “A Boycott Budweiser movement begins over Super Bowl immigration ad,” The Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/mcxnvqd. [14] Nathaniel C. Nash, “Oil Companies Face Boycott Over Sinking of Rig,” The New York Times, June 17, 1995, http://tinyurl.com/kz3mzpl; Daniel Diermeier, “When Do Company Boycotts Work?” Harvard Business Review, Aug. 6, 2012, http://tinyurl.com/ze72h7m. [15] Ibid. [16] Ibid. [17] “The Olympics Boycott, 1980,” U.S. Department of State Archives, information released online from Jan. 20, 2001, to Jan. 20, 2009, http://tinyurl.com/lkra2ey. [18] Ibid. [19] David Ng, “Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith to boycott Oscars; academy responds,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 18, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/l8nlhqb. [20] Jack Shepherd, “Donald Trump supporters boycott Oscars ceremony because of liberal Hollywood,” The Independent, Feb. 26, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/lkmxx4s. [21] Marc Tracy, “N.C.A.A. Ends Boycott of North Carolina After So-Called Bathroom Bill Is Repealed,” The New York Times, April 4, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/lzdoy8a. [22] Ibid. Page 11 of 12 The Boycott SAGE Business Researcher
©2020 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [23] Emery P. Dalesio and Jonathan Drew, “AP Exclusive: Price tag of North Carolina’s LGBT law: $3.76B,” The Associated Press, March 27, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/lj6mwya. [24] Brayden King and Mary-Hunter McDonnell, “What the Breitbart-Kellogg Feud Says About the Next Era of American Politics,” Fortune.com, Dec. 13, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/mt5ypxd. [25] Ibid. [26] Ibid. [27] Dante Chinni and Sally Bronston, “Trump Product Endorsements Drive Consumers…Away,” NBC News, April 9, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/lnrl6nm. [28] NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., U.S. Supreme Court, argued March 3, 1982, decided July 2, 1982, http://tinyurl.com/l4egw44. [29] “Justices Decide for NAACP in Boycott Case,” The New York Times, July 3, 1982, http://tinyurl.com/m3t8oer. [30] Marina Villeneuve, “L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean gave too much money to pro-Trump group, FEC says,” The Associated Press, Portland Press Herald, Jan. 13, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/zamgke3. [31] Julia Limitone, “Linda Bean Calls Boycott ‘Un-American,’ Trump Says Thank You in Tweet,” Fox Business, Jan. 12, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/jk9dvsf. [32] “U.S. farmworkers in California campaign for economic justice (Grape Strike), 1965-70,” Global Nonviolent Action database, http://tinyurl.com/ojbtytl. [33] Steven Greenhouse, “Labor Fight Ends in Win for Students,” The New York Times, Nov. 17, 2009, http://tinyurl.com/ylkqu28. [34] Ashlee Kieler, “If a Boycott Works, It’s Not Just Because People Stopped Buying Stuff,” Consumerist, May 17, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/gru99ke. [35] Sarah Halzack, “Trump lashes out at Nordstrom in a tweet for dropping his daughter’s apparel line,” The Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/klnamm9. Page 12 of 12 The Boycott SAGE Business Researcher
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