I never ever go to McDonalds --or Micky D's as they call it in Ohio. I have many, many reasons - too many to list! Also I won't shop for food at Giant Eagle Stores, huge chain here with old, inferior meats, that often get dates changed on products in a sneaky way that need pulled. I've been burned because of that. They also give those stupid-ass "gift & gas cards" to every one's Chain store in town, which impacts their prices & Giant Eagles and average items are costing many cents to a buck more in there.

Plus their baggers are rude and smell bad. They never held load my car! I hate that!

There are only a couple things I can think of that I've purposely avoided in a "boycott" type of manner.

Wendy's - constantly fucking up my order
Geico - they fucked me over one time, and I refuse to deal with them again
Titanic - I never wanted to see it, and so far I never have. I don't care how good you think it is, I'm not interested
A certain liquor store close to my house - they were rude to me once

I hold grudges!

I'm with you on this, but it is not what I would call a boycott. It's just "voting with your feet" because you don't like the experience.
To me a boycott means that we avoid a place because of some ulterior social or political reason.
I don't do that. I'll certainly avoid a specific place because of bad service, but I won't avoid a Wendy's in Indiana because one in Boston screwed up my order.
I avoid new cars because they drop in value like a rock, :mad:and I don't think that it is wise to spend so much money on a depreciating asset, but it's not because of politics.
I dislike the IDEA of McDonalds but I'll eat their food. I have family back in Kansas that sells beef to Mickie D and I'm told that they are VERY particular. Much more so than the USDA inspectors, anyway.
I avoid commercial TV not for political or moral reasons, but because I think most of the programming is crap. I resent that an hour of TV watching means sometimes up to 23 minutes of commercials. So I vote with my remote:rolleyes: and go to NPTV or use the off button.
But I wouldn't call it a boycott.

Lindy

I don't know if I'd call what I do specifically boycotting so much as how Lindy stated it.... "voting with your feet" because you don't like the experience. In general, that's how I do things... Often times my political feelings toward a company will coincide with not liking the experience.

I don't like the experience of going to Walmart, so I don't shop there.
Eating at McDonald's has made me physically ill the last few times I've tried, so I don't eat there.

I wouldn't call it boycotting so much as just not liking the service.

i usually dont, but i havnt eaten kellogs since the whole phelps thing. im not sure why i care.

What about Kellogg's and Phelps?

I don't buy gas at Exxon or Citgo, especially Citgo. I'll avoid Exxon, but if it's the only thing around, I begrudgingly go. Both are political in nature.

Otherwise, I won't shop at Kohl's because I worked there two years and their treatment of employees is abysmal at best.

kelloggs dropped phelps because of the whole marijuana thing.


what about exxon and citgo?

Exxon because it is the poster child for corporate greed and Citgo is owned by Chavez.

ah, and now i know.

The Sheinhardt Wig Company

exxon, BP and I try to not buy green freak products that try to say were better than you we are green, All they want is a profit.

what's with boycotting venezuelan oil? kingdoms are more politically palatable?

i can imagine some bizarre-o rationale for the venezuelan boycott--far right politics for one---but i ran across another point earlier in the thread that made no sense to me at all, so i'll ask about it:

where did the idea come from that sweatshops are good for workers and for the places they're located? what planet did it come from? what language was it in?


anyway: i don't have specific boycott actions that i carry out. i avoid industrial food whenever possible because i not only object to monsanto, cargill and dow, but also because i object to the entire production model they're part of. also for health reasons--flavor reasons as well. local sustainably produced food is a bit more expensive, is often a pain in the ass to get (depending on where you are) but it in general tastes better, if only because the distance separating the source from you is smaller. the food is raised to be consumed, not for shipment on trucks. industrial food is raised to be shipped over long distances without getting fucked up in the process. if, say, industrial tomatoes taste like something beyond wet paper, that's a side benefit. what's important is that most of these flavorless red things arrive without being bruised.

there's a problem of scale within "organic" or "sustainably produced" food that's more complicated than i initially thought, so while i prefer not to go to starbucks because i dislike the atmosphere, i don't oppose them for the procurement practices in quite the way i once did. they're not great, but at least they make a gesture (research the cafe system via their corporate website)---at the same time, they only get a small amount of their coffee via fair trade collectives, but they plaster the stickers all over everywhere. that's lame. that's starbucks. as flaccid as the music they hawk.


similar logic informs my refusal to shop at walmart--that plus i think they do in fact engage in a range of predatory practices, and their labor policies suck.

Scanning back through here, this caught my eye, as it operates on the assumption that Kraft Foods is still related to Philip Morris in some way, but they're not any more--Kraft has been its own company for a couple years now. Altria spun it off to shareholders in 2007; it's now a publicly-held corporation. Warren Buffet apparently owns an 8% stake.

And interestingly, roachboy, Starbucks is the largest single purchaser of Fair Trade coffee in the world. They literally can't buy enough Fair Trade coffee.

A lot of these leave me wondering when people list a name and no reason.
DeBeers, I agree on, but Blu-Ray? They had a catchier name and a superior product.
You expect baggers to load your car? What kind of magical fantasy world do you live in?

Have refused to buy anything from Nike and McDonalds for over 10 years now - did want to boycott Nestlé but too weak to give up chunky Kitkats which is the only thing I buy from that company

choices...

This would kill me - no more Vegemite!!! (made by Kraft):eek::eek:

---------- Post added at 11:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 AM ----------

With the huge prevalence of fast food places in the US, does your and MSD's Macca's boycott include everyone else as well, as is it just McDonalds?

---------- Post added at 11:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------

phew :)

---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 AM ----------

Now for my list. Nothing really. I don't buy coffee in Starbucks (because I live in Sydney and we are all coffee snobs), but I'm not really boycotting, I just get coffee elsewhere.

Blu-Ray is a stupid name. The only good thing about it was that it used Sun (Java) instead of Microsoft's product. The movies on HD-DVD were a lot better, they just didn't have the kids movies, and didn't have the PS3. But the business practices used to force consumers into one standard for no good reason (for the consumer), when studios should have been neutral and released movies in both formats. Then again, downloading movies works out much better and doesn't clutter up my living room.

Hmmm . . . . . This wouldn't surprise you if you were old enough to remember Betamax video cassettes.

Higher quality, but less title selection, so they went the way of the . . . . . . HD-DVD.

Amsouth (aka Regions) and Wachovia. Together they tried to scam me out of $1,200 - money that they'll have to pry from my cold, dead fingers, collection agencies be damned. I try to sway people away from these banks - there's legalized racketeering in their TOS, people. You won't know until they try to fuck you over.

McDonalds because their food makes me physically ill, and they can't compare to any other fast food place.

I'll also never buy Microsoft if I can help it - when I give a company money for software, that software is mine regardless of what some slimy piece-of-shit TOS agreement says. Way to push your customers to piracy, geniuses.

Apple because of their customer-rape program ("You want to update your iPod so that it functions correctly, has bugs fixed and is up-to-date? $10, fucker! That'll teach you to buy from us and give us your trust!").

H&R Block, because of their H&R Block Card's customer service. It costs $2 to call customer service after the first two calls. First call: service agent thinks I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to read, sends me an email with instructions for a problem that I clearly explained I didn't have. Second call: service agent puts me on hold and hangs up. I won't be calling them again so that they can charge me unfairly.

And finally, the RIAA and MPAA. I buy a CD or DVD = I own the disk, and the media on that disk, regardless of any invisible, intrinsic TOS agreements. I should be allowed to do whatever the fuck I want with it, including making backups. Is there a better way to criminalize your customers?

I typically dont boycot anything because im not really in an income bracket that can choose to do that. For awhile I shunned Walmart when I could because as Americans we need to buy American made products, but lately I have shopped there because of the cheap prices. I was in there a few days ago after I got off work. I work thirds and it was like 6 in the morning, not to many people were in there. I was walking passed the electronics section and they had all of there t.v.'s blaring some Obama speach-it was totally creepy and surreal-what a wonderful way to program the masses while in zombie shopping mode. I dont think I'll go there anymore.

I also am not in a financial position to choose as much as I would like but I do my best when I can. I know of some mom and pop stores that sell food at the same and sometimes lower prices then wal-mart believe it or not near where I live and I spend the extra gas to make trips to each one.

As for the speech thing I assume you are joking about the brainwashing thing or you are a conservative. I assume they had the TV set to a news channel or c-span that was re-running a previous days speech at an off hour no conspiracy or brainwashing there.

Ruger firearms: Most of their newer products suck (safety recalls, anyone?). Prior to that, I boycotted them so as not to send money to that most ridiculous of spectacles, an anti-2nd Amendment gun manufacturer.

HS Precision rifles and stocks: Endorsed, in print, by a psychopathic murdering thug. 'Nuff said.

Jennings, Lorcin, Raven Arms, Jimenez Arms and Bryco: I have no wish for my customers to blow their fingers off and come back pissed at me for selling them a hand-grenade disguised as a gun.

Kellogg: Driving corporate force of Socialism and Communism in this country for the past 100yrs. I'll stick to store brands.

Keanu Reeves movies: No use throwing good money at bad acting. Likewise any Costner film in which he is the Lead, and any film whos primcipal actors have an anti-gun public record. This goes double for action-movie stars. Pistol-packin' Mama Jolie, on the other hand, will actually see a few dollars of mine at some point.

Exxon: They still haven't paid the State of Alaska for the cleanup after the Exxon Valdez spill, and some of their conduct in S. America has been just beyond horrid.

Citgo: I see no reason to further fatten Hugo Chavez or his murderous, anti-freedom regime.

In the past I boycotted (along with my photographer mother) FuujiFilm, because of their continued involvment with the South African Apartheid gov't. I wish I could find a way to boycott taxes and keep them from being sent to the Israeli Apartheid gov't, but the IRS takes a dim view of such efforts.

I occaisionally make an effort to boycott fast-food locations which continually fuck up my order.

I boycott Debeers diamonds as well. It's not a hard decision to make, and it's really easy to boycott since diamonds aren't something I use on a regular basis. However, I will avoid them if the time ever comes that I need a clear shiny piece of nothing.

deleted

I boycott the meat industry. I have no problem with eating animals for food; I just don't like the way the giant industries treat these animals nor do I like the way the meat is processed (before and after slaughter). If I could afford free-range chicken then I'd probably eat it (as long as I am 100% sure it's free-range) ... but since I can't always afford it I just do without.

If I wasn't so lazy I would have no problem hunting for meat.

As much as I'd like to say I do, I seem to be relatively incapable of boycotting companies. There's about a dozen companies I likely should boycott by nature of their 'worldview' disagreeing with mine, but I have yet to do so.

Among them:

Dominos, for the homophobic and fundamentalist religious leadership and policies

Pizza Hut, for their anti-CCW policies, particularly the firing of a delivery man who saved his own life with a CCW

DeBeers, Shane Company, etc., if not simply for the uselessness of non-industrial diamonds but for their supposed links to 'blood diamonds'

Axe bodyspray, because of their misogynistic, objectifying and offensive (even as a man) commercials

I'm not really sure what it is, but I find myself largely incapable of boycotting anyone on basis of my morals. I think its largely because (a) my morals aren't that solid and (b) I don't think boycots are even marginally affective.

I feel like it'd be a waste even if I had the motivation to do it, which I don't. It's kind of like "picketting" in labor strikes, to me.

I avoid Walmart as much as possible. Why? Because their advertisements say they're cheaper and they're not, because they say that they have quality stuff and they don't, because they say they're trying to help the working man and every small town they get into ends up loosing all their local, small businesses because they can't compete - only because people have been convinced that Walmart is cheaper.

Our two local grocery stores (within 30 miles of home) are cheaper by far, overall than walmart. Unfortunately there is only one other department store/clothing store. There is one outdoor clothing store but as far as any other products we are forced to go to Walmart or to drive over 60 miles to the next nearest store. I hate feeling like I 'have to' go to a particular store only because I have very little 'choice' in the matter.

Otherwise - no particular moral reason to boycott them, that I know of :p .

I remember the rootkits Sony put on their CDs, so I try very hard not to buy anything from them.


Hadn't hear d that. Details?

Another one I forgot to add, and that's Apple.

I'd love to boycott Apple because of their god-damned "PC vs. Macintosh" commercials because I feel that they are deliberately trying to take advantage of user ignorance when it comes to computers. I have no respect for people do this, and their commercials almost seem to be trying to make it OBVIOUS that they know their users don't know the difference between a mouse and a brick.

I think I can call it an official boycott because I actually enjoy the UI of MacOS', and I think their security design (TCP/IP stack, Linux roots) is superior to the ones designed by Microsoft. But that said, I'll never buy one until they stop having such predatory commercials.

and you know even 20 years on... The Sun doesnt sell in Liverpool

I boycott any company that uses the color red.

Fuckin' commies.

Which ones are those? I'm goin' there to-day!


Uh, Walmart is evil, just for so many reasons, good quality nonwithstanding.

Pretty much the same goes for all big business, but I try to keep away from the ones that train their staff to the bone, brainwise I mean. Having gone through that myself, I'd rather stick to the Local places, at least I get some HUMAN interaction. Unless I'm in a time crunch, then I'll go to wal-shmurt or mcDonads, burger Tart or eXXXon ("exTTrapon" I call it).

But I treat the employees there with the respect they deserve, you know. Same for the guy with cerebral paulsy working at the Red Cross as the similar respectful dismay I have at Everyone's lack of options.

I try to avoid buying anything at Walmart, don't spend much at Jewel or other big Illinois grocers.
I try all I can to support the independent grocers.

I would imagine most people boycott due to personal experiences, can't say I have any of those that stick out.

BestBuy sold me a router for my computer and their Tech-Support guy (in the philippines btw) told me that the router was the thing that was giving me problems with my computer and advised me to return it. When I took it back they would only give me store credit...even though BestBuy admitted that it was the most returned item in the entire store and their support-tech that told me to return it. No amount of discussion would change their minds no matter how far up the chain i went.

No more BestBuy purchases for me.

Why? Best Buy always issues store credit. Maybe if you read your receipt...

Why would I want store credit instead of cash?
Um...because I don't have anything I want to buy in the store.
The item returned was their fault, not mine.

Whereas I boycott Starbucks because their coffee is overpriced and fucking sucks.

oops...i messed up and inverted 2 words in my post #77 giving it an opposite meaning...sorry...i fixed it now

,,,m0rpheus, i have to agree with you regarding starbucks but how else were they going to saturate the market with 2 Starbucks per every block :shakehead:

Certain pet shops I've been to before because they seem to mistreat the animals. Also, there were open barrels of food and when I checked a few out.. there were mice and mouse turds in the food. The birds also looked tired and their cages were PILED with their own shit.