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
- 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 gave 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. If you believe in a woman’s right to choose, never buy from Uline!