As I’m sure you heard, there was a movement on social media to boycott spending on February 28th. Ideas like this aren’t new- every time the price of gas goes up someone suggests it because it’s supposed to lower gas prices. It never works, and this one didn’t work either. And here’s why.
#1 Lack of participation. It’s likely that less than 10% of the population actually took part. There are lot of reasons why. Some people don’t have social media. Some people didn’t think it would work/ thought it was a stupid idea.
#2 Rules were unclear. Some posts said not to buy anything. Some said don’t buy anything from chain stores. Some said don’t buy anything other than necessities.
#3 One day isn’t long enough. Think about it. Do YOU go to Walmart or shop on Amazon every day? Of course not. And if you actually DO, how hard would it be to skip a day? Which leads me to…
#4 All you wind up doing is moving your purchases to another day. I saw/ heard multiple people say they planned ahead so they didn’t have to shop on the 28th. Do you really think moving a purchase 12 hours has any real effect? OF COURSE NOT.
And what if a boycott WAS successful and got the attention of the CEOs of Amazon, Wal-Mart, etc.? Do you think Jeff Bezos would suddenly wake up and revamp his entire business model? OR, would he just lay off a bunch of people? Which seems more likely to you?
If you want to boycott a company because you don’t like the way they do business that is your right. There are a couple companies I chose to not support myself. But only doing it for one day would be completely meaningless. Just like the boycott.