To think about boycotting American products and services

[Taytoface]

I feel so helpless in the current madness. It seems like the only act of objection possible is not buying american. Boycotting Israeli products, and South African back in the day, was relatively straightforward, but I have no clue how to de americanise my life. Anyone come across any helpful resources?

That required mass consumer action and on home turf. There were actual protests in California, and many prominent voices in the entertainment industry backed the anti Disney backlash, which would have added to their troubles. And any reputational and financial damage was short lived, as you would know if you follow the stock market.

UK middle class virtue signalling suburbia is a drop in the ocean for Disney. Y'all are not going to bankrupt them. Sorry.

(By the way, I hate them and have never subscribed, much to my DC dismay when they were younger!)

We boycotted SA stuff as a family, and knew many who did.

I boycot ‘quietly’. There is a shop I used a lot which I stopped using at the start of this middle east conflict. Only my family knows. I would never tell anyone in real life, and I hated it when shoppers going there were abused and attacked. That’s unacceptable. I don’t think my boycott will have affected the business. It was about giving me a sense of something I could ‘do’ during the horrors. I still miss buying stuff from there though…

Anyway, this thread has been useful for info on some companies. So thank you all.

I have no issue with Disney as a company, and I did follow the story (and the stock market) I was simply using the PPs example and explaining why it was probably the worst example they could have come up with.
we can vote with our purses. Some people like to sneer and try to dissuade us from doing that because they know it can have an impact.

Always find it weird people who will boycott terrible companies over one thing without twigging that it might be that the company is actually terrible, and that's why they did the thing that promoted the boycott!

People like to sneer at it because all the meerkats that pop their heads up to virtue signal about voting with their purses will be resubscribing as soon as the storm passes. Again, crapitalism wins.

Only China has a competitive digital sector.

I recall how it all started. They wanted to censor information online but the US tech companies wouldn’t do it. So they banned them, which allowed space for Chinese tech to grow and become global brands.

Ofc I am proud of American products (being an American) but it would be nice if Europe could actually develop digital products that could compete globally in the same way China has. But I just don’t see it happening

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good

For those saying that boycotts made a difference in South Africa, that’s only partly true. Boycotts did make (some difference, but that’s because countries’ governments were on board with the need for changes in South Africa, whereas they’re still capitulating to Trump’s demands.

No-one has stood up to him and no-one will.

He’s already saying that he’s struck a deal on Greenland, or in the very least has the beginnings of one, and none of the other world leaders have denied this fact.

If Trump wants Greenland he’ll get it, and nobody is going to stop him. Ditto anything else he does. All the talk against him is just posturing, when it comes to the crunch he’ll get what he wants and we all know it.

People laugh at his speeches, make fun of what a nutjob he is, talk about how he’s lost the plot, and it could be argued that that’s how he manages to get what he wants. People see him almost as this head case who is so outrageous (they’re eating the dogs and cats) that he’s harmless. But in fact he’s incredibly dangerous and we’re all standing by and watching.

We can boycott products out of our own moral righteousness, but it’s a case of personal thought.

So I don’t eat veal because of how the calves are treated for instance. Just by way of an example. But that affects me and only me. I’m personally not going to make a difference to the veal industry, but I don’t need to be a part of it, that’s my personal issue.

We need to get leadership on-side, and right now that’s just not happening, because like it or not the US have too much power over us still.

I wish these were brands I could afford on a daily basis 😂

OP, economic crisis is often behind the election of nutters. If we all do this and plunge America into financial crisis (as if that would happen!), people will be even more inclined to vote for this particular nutter next time around.

He'll string himself up - no need for interference.

At the risk of virtue signalling I’m avoiding US products where there is a viable choice. (Not sure if you can VS if posting anonymously?)

So much is intertwined. You stop buying one US products where but it’s actually made in Thailand etc.

My main one is that I won’t visit/holiday in a country where my children, relatives and children I taught would be at risk, unwelcome or be turned away.

So as I’ve gay children, a non binary relative and taught Muslim children this rules out quite a few countries - the US being one.

Where two brands are side by side one US the other not I’ll normally pick the latter.

Many people, including me, who support a boycott have mentioned that. It's not short sighted it's a dilemma.

I still don’t get the virtue signalling argument.

I am choosing to buy actual books from my local bookshop rather than downloading them from Amazon. Whether or not that affects Amazon, surely it’s benefitting my local bookshop owner and supporting the local high street. I can’t understand why anyone thinks that is a bad thing.

If I buy from a British rather than American-owned company, I am still supporting British jobs.

I am not trying to be perfect. All I am doing is gradually reducing my reliance on American goods (and Chinese, but that’s a different story) and trying to shop locally wherever possible. I also try to buy British or European made good where they exist.

If that makes me a terrible virtual signaller, so be it.

The term 'virtue signalling' is just another 'woke' . A lazy insult used by those who don't care or can't be bothered.

Yes. Your local taxi company.

Or perhaps by American, Russian and Chinese bots who would prefer for the UK to be weak and dependent on them. It isn’t in their interests for there to be a mass public movement towards supporting UK companies and our local high street so they try to shut it down on social media.

For anyone saying you'll never boycott all American products so why bother is like saying i can't run a marathon so why bother running.

I'd massively struggle without google and Microsoft, but I can start small, my day to day groceries, swap colgate for aquafresh, coca cola for iron bru, buy Surf instead of Fairy or whatever. I can cancel amazon and disney plus, and Netflix.

If its just me that does it, will it make a difference? of course not. But if enough people start to do it, then sure it'll get noticed.

Look what happened when Canada stopped buying US bourbon.

Boycotting can have a major political impact if done right. I remember people being scathing about those of us who boycotted South African goods in protest at apartheid. Things like thousands of people closing their Barclays Bank accounts because of the banks SA connections, or refusing to buy food from SA had a major impact on raising awareness and exerting very real pressure. It most certainly was not virtue signalling as a previous poster said. It was an attempt to support our fellow human beings.

But we are now so enmeshed with the USA that I can’t see how a boycott could work. All we can do is hope that this situation will be over soon.

Except it never really did have the impact that people thought it did.

Barclays Bank didn’t pull out of South Africa, they simply rebranded to First National. They were still Barclays though.

In fact it was a running joke over there about how people thought that they’d managed to pressure Barclays when nothing could have been further from the truth.

Oh well, shame it was all for nothing.
our hearts were in the right place

It wasn't all for nothing!

Different boycotts had different impacts. The sporting ones really hurt – white South Africans felt really wounded at them.

You have to understand that a big part of the psyche of white South Africans (both Afrikaans & English-speaking) was that they were the bastion of civilisation against the barbarians, gallantly taking up the White Man's Burden on behalf of the White Race everywhere. In the 1980s they were still living in the 1880s.

Being told by people from European countries and Australia that their behaviour was no longer considered normal and their values were no longer accepted was a matter of considerable stress to them. Especially when there were real-life consequences. So even though they took pride in workarounds like Barclays becoming First Nat, and many revelled in a defiant seige mentality, there was still that stress that they had to do it all. Why wouldn't the world just love them?!

If every non-African country the apartheid government ever dealt with had clapped it on the back and said "Well done chaps! Keep it up!" I really don't imagine for a moment that they'd have released Nelson Mandela and embraced change. There was internal pressure from the increasing violence within the country, but I'd be astonished if that alone would have brought change at the date it did. The repression would have carried on ramping up for many more years into increasing ungovernability and inability to reconstruct.

So long story short, I'm convinced that directly and indirectly the boycotts helped bring change.

I definitely think it’s worth a go. You’d slip up for sure but it would be fun trying and as a side effect I think we’d be better off physically and mentally without USA stuff. I can’t think of anything I’d miss. It would be a kerfuffle without google but there must be a way around that? Most US good and services would great to avoid. I’m excited at the prospect of no Netflix, no Hollywood, no McDonalds, no Amazon, I can’t think of one modern music group or artist I’d miss. Microsoft Teams I’d only use if required to by work I suppose. Actually I think it would be fantastic. I’m sorry for ordinary decent citizens of the USA , I really am, but they need to pay their part . He’s got to go ! Women should lead on this.

People rushing to the thread to tell us we're wasting our time and insinuating that we're virtual signalling seems like a bit of an overreach to me and makes me think it could actually work.
Even if it doesn't have any real impact, wheres the harm and what's it to ya?

If you are walking to your local shop and buying stuff there (or ordering online from them) it balances out though. In fact, it's probably if anything generating more, better jobs.
Amazon disrupted the market but I don't think it created any new jobs overall. Instead as Jobs are lost on the high street etc, some people take jobs in Amazon Warehouses or as delivery drivers. But because of the push for efficiency there's less jobs overall and more money going to the owner (Jeff Bezos).

Agree with this. It's disingenuous too because it's just a way of keeping status quo or their own self-perceived virtue intact. We all have choices with our money, and like it or not people tend to spend in line with their values or their desires. That's not virtue signaling, that's just reality.

I boycott stuff - is it perfect? No. Does it fix everything? No. But I choose what my money goes toward and I choose to minimize harm where I can. That's buying less, buying local, and supporting causes I believe in. I'll buy books new by authors who are contributing to the world in positive ways, contribute to patreons of journalists doing serious investigative work. I go out of my way to support our local arts scene. We choose eco friendly. I thrift shop in place of new. My retirement fund is with a manager who specifically refuses to invest in the international weapons trade or slave trade (insofar as it depends on them, it's likely impossible to avoid in its entirety). I don't do cryptocurrency because it massively funds / comes from crime and is used to launder money. Etc.

Most people have no idea unless they specifically ask us how we spend our money. For me it's about living intentionally and in peace insofar as it depends on me. That's it.

The US currently doesn't fit that parameter, so yes I've taken several nice to haves off my list because they're unnecessary and why should I give money into the economy that's trying to tank mine? I do however buy nice to haves from US outfits that are actively resisting the current administration, anything Minnesota has got a green light at this point. They are amazing.

Because "ya" generally can't shut up about how virtuous "ya" are by boycotting stuff and buying local it makes people insufferable, tone deaf, holier than thou bores.

There's someone at my work on their high horse with this at the moment, I caught her lecturing a colleague the other day because they brought some resources in for a training course in an Amazon box. This colleague is struggling with 2 SEN DC, one of whom has an ED, and a parent with advanced cancer, and I don't know how they're even getting up every day. People don't think about the possible reasons why someone else may not have the energy or time to go to 5 different local shops when Amazon can deliver them all to your door in 24hrs, or have the bandwidth to know exactly what Trump is doing each day and why it's bad. Said fool of a hectoring colleague was absolutely told to keep her views on how others should or shouldn't spend their money to herself, and mind her own business at work.

If you want to boycott things and feel smug about it, of course it's nothing to anybody else, until "ya" make it others' business.