To think boycotters only see one side of the story and are ill-informed?

[Username2018]

I’ve worked for a couple of companies who are regularly boycotted. I have been massively impressed with their commitment to R&D and education, and corporate social responsibility generally, despite the public thinking they are Satan.

They don’t get everything right, there have been mistakes, they are not perfect, but these were due to employee error, not because of a corporate strategy. And what these companies ‘give back’ directly and indirectly is largely not known by joe public.

AIBU to think most boycotters don’t weigh up the good and the bad and just go along with the propaganda they see from not necessarily reliable sources??

I'mnot sure the good needs to be acknowledged if the bad is terrible.

Doing something good doesn't excuse or make up for a deliberate policy that causes harm.

In fact it's probably better to call a company out for doing that.

Do you get overtime for educating ‘Joe Public’ about how sweet and responsible big business really is early on Sunday morning, OP?

The thing is, sometimes the bad is so awful (like nestle for example) that the ‘good’ doesn’t make it any better. Deliberately carrying out actions that results in the death of babies can’t be overlooked just because they also give money to charity, for example.

You still haven’t gone into any details OP and are coming across as patronising.
No one has the right to tell people boycotting something that they are ‘uneducated’ in the matter - what is your definition of uneducated for example ? And in what matter ?

I boycott companies that have annoyed me. So Hermes and Dyson at the moment

Most middle class boycott ever

I boycott companies for all sorts of reasons: Nestle because of water/baby milk scandals, Amazon, Starbucks and others because of their tax avoidance, Dyson, Next, Wetherspoons for their stance on Brexit (actually I've never been in a Wetherspoons, but I definitely wouldn't now!), other companies because of animal testing.

Individuals have very little power. Exercising their consumer choice is one of the ways they can exercise what little influence they have. I don't feel I should have to 'weigh up the good and the bad'. If the 'bad' is sufficiently bad/unethical to me, I don't care what 'good' they have done. There are plenty of other brands I can give my business to.

But do it because you know the full facts and can make a decision based on a balanced view, rather than a media-warped image of something.

Don't be silly. Seriously. I really couldn't give a fuck if Nestle is nice to cats and helps grandmothers across the streets when their marketing tactics led to the death of children all for the sake of profit.

Yes, my life is a shitload harder because companies are so interwoven that I might be buying the same product from a different company that itself belongs to the same mother company, but there's actually an app for that: Buycott. I use it all the time.

My boycott is not perfect, but at least I'm doing what I can.

I think you'd need to add Boden too.

What would be the most MN boycott ever?

Some companies go to extreme lengths to cover up any information that could lead to a balanced view.

Also sometimes what they do is so appalling that knowing they’ve done such a thing is enough because no amount of staff training could balance it.

For example, Nestle’s policy of pushing formula in third world countries directly leads to infant deaths, I’d love to know how they would excuse that. I once met someone who worked for them in a ££££££ role, and she seemed ok but wasn’t someone I’d want to befriend because of who she chose to work for. (And at her level, it was a choice.)

A pombears boycott?
Putting Naice ham on the do not buy list?

1. Surely it depends on the company?
2. Individual employee error isn't responsible for companies knowingly pursuing harmful company policies
3. Even if companies have just made a mistake, why shouldn't they be encouraged to make amends by people boycotting? How else will they change their ways?
4. It's very patronising to assume that others don't know the facts when they make a decision to boycott a company.

I as an individual can boycott who I like. It may not be an effective boycott as far as bringing the company to its knees, but it makes me feel better that anyone that has done something wrong or me a dis service will no longer get my custom.

Anything I order that is coming via Yodel instantly gets cancelled due to too many thefts / damages / losses of my parcels previously. Not the company I buy offs fault but their choice of delivery company is as important as their own service.

I also boycott Asda due to their working practices on their staff. Yes if I'm somewhere that gives me Asda food I have to eat it, but at least I'm personally not handing them my cash. Totally ineffectual but makes me feel better.

Boycott who you want people. It's your choice

I boycott Nestle and have done for ten years.

Baby milk mis-selling and promotion in communities where it must only ever be seen as a life saving emergency product for when breastmilk is not available.
The declaration of water not being a human right all the while draining the water tables dry in water-vulnerable parts of the world.
The use of child labour continuing despite claims that they have put a stop to it.
Also the fact that they threaten workers in developing countries with being fired if the they try to organise unions, and often choose to set up shop in countries with very lax labour laws in order to avoid close scrutiny of it's labour practises.

I did many months of research at the start of it- I knew exactly why I was boycotting. And my husband did to and supports it.

I think we’ve already established YABU OP.

One of my colleagues at a large UK pharma company heard the story from a security guard of a time when they caught an animal rights activist coming in over the fence, after he ran back to pick up his asthma inhaler. I always liked that one.

I’ve worked in R&D for ‘Big Pharma’ and my favourite tale has to be that of the very fierce animal activist we had to with on a regular basis that got cancer and accepted all the treatment offered whilst spitting at and verbally abusing colleagues

Yes companies make mistakes but when you get companies with people in senior positions i.e. the CEO saying (and this is the exact quote) "The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution. The other view says that water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value."

Then the same company only this month obtains the right to increased access water in Michigan for free while residents only 100 miles away in Flint are still fighting for drinking water without lead in it.

That company could be doing all sorts of good but it still wouldn't change the fact that something is fundamentally very wrong in their ethics.

Oh and thanks to PP for mentioning Buycott. I’m off to download

By all means boycott. But do it because you know the full facts and can make a decision based on a balanced view, rather than a media-warped image of something.

Customers can buy, or not buy, from whatever company they want, for whatever reason they want.
. If I choose to 'boycott' Sainsburys because I don't like the colour orange, it's no one's business but mine.

Pretty sure Nestle aren’t accidentally making mistakes. Plenty of evidence and I have read it. I don’t mention it at work, and I make my own decisions thanks.

AndrewFogg: the boycott of apartheid S Africa was effective because it was upheld by individuals, unions, many local councils. It was an established political position. What’s wrong with that?

Do nestle make any uk formula brands?

My Nestlé boycott is very well-informed, thank you very much. I'd question the moral compass of people choosing to defend their practices, TBH.

Obvs, the family-wide boycott means that KitKats are like crack to my kids and they'll scoff them with glee when offered them by anyone else. But that's because they're young and KitKats are tasty.

How would you suggest people effect change, 21018? People have written phds and long textbooks on the complexities of corporate behaviour and our ability / inability to work out what is going on. The rash of fake news books by people like Naomi Klein, James Bell and Matthew Ancona would be a good start. In terms if how hard it is for us to work out what is going or act effectively to change how business decisions effect communities, try some of the books listed on the spinwatch site or “a quiet word” by Cave.

You are right it is complex, but rather than be dazzled by the complexity, we need to lear to make rational judgments based on the information we can get hold of from reliable sources and do something we believe will make a difference. In that regard books about making good decisions and avoiding cognituve bias might help you.

And all the time we’re sitting on our arses reading, the world is pressing on its merry way.

Every stupid thing anyone has ever done has seemed like a good idea at the time btw.

Which companies are you talking about specifically? If it's pharma and it's GSK at a global level then that would be a very interesting debate, in my opinion.

shelentei this is from last year but details most Nestle brands in the bottom left corner of the infographic.

Formula isn’t on there but they own SMA.

m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/consumer-brands-owned-ten-companies-graphic_n_1458812

But Zebedee unless you are able to work in a senior position in the company, you have to rely in the information available in the media. Even analysts‘reports on companies that cost £££ wont tell you everything, nor will their accounts, annual reports, planning applications though these things can give you some useful insight and cost a lot more than ‘the media’