I boycott the products and services of companies that engage in activities I condemn. Buying from an organization supports that organization, and everything they do. Buy supporting them, you enable their negative behaviours, and essential “vote” for them to perpetuate those behaviours. You say to that company – what you do is okay with me. Keep doing it.
If a company does something you don’t like, if it holds a position you find unacceptable, if it presently or in the past has engaged in actions that have caused harm – to people, to animals, to the environment – don’t buy from them.
That’s a good place to start. But more importantly, if you don’t let those organizations know that you boycott them, and why, they will never know they have lost you as a customer as a result, and won’t change negative behaviours or atone for past ones. Tell them why. Write a letter or email to the company, post a tweet and tag that company, post on the company’s Facebook page.
Here’s a partial list of companies I refuse to support:
- Monsanto – developed and produced Agent Orange, glyphosate (Roundup), along with other toxic/carcinogenic products; policies harm farmers and agriculture
- Bayer – acquired Monsanto; also responsible for pesticides that harm bee populations. Bayer continues Monsanto’s practices of silencing journalists and critics using nefarious tactics, while influencing policies in various U.S. states that would absolve them of accountability for health and environmental harms caused by their products.
- Shell Oil – responsible for environmental devastation in Nigeria, endorsed the murder of activists
- Exxon/Mobile – suppressed research that revealed fossil fuels are responsible for climate change, spends exorbitantly to lobby against legislation to halt climate change, top carbon producer
- Amazon – mistreatment of workers, domination of market harms smaller retailers
- Nestlé – multiple human rights and environmental infractions, including water; more here
- Wal-mart – mistreatment of workers, union-busting, sells products created using child labour; see this and this
- Uline – owners Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein have given millions to Trump, and are huge donors to right-wing campaigns in the United States. Richard Uihlein was the single-largest donor to the yes side of a campaign in Ohio to amend that state’s constitution, a change that would have enabled extremely restrictive abortion laws to pass. Visit Refuse Uline for more info.
- Indigo Books – along with all their subsidiary brands: Chapters, Coles, SmithBooks, IndigoSpirit, and The Book Company. Not only does Indigo undercut the existence of independent book stores, “Between 2019 and 2023, Indigo CEO Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz have provided over $43 million to fund lone soldiers who join the IDF, through their HESEG Foundation.” HESEG has misrepresented itself and violated rules for registered charities. Canadian organizations with charitable status are not allowed to support foreign militaries, and HESEG, and lone soldiers are part of a military force that has been added to the UN’s list of entities that target and kill children.