Businesses to Boycott?
November 8, 2024 10:20 PM Subscribe
What businesses do you avoid because they have values you disagree with? Please give your rationale in your answer. This question is inspired by reaction to Trump. But please give answers from anywhere in the world, for various values.
It's a bit of a cursed duopoly, but I prefer Coles over Woolworths because of the ownership of Poker Machines (Woolies, pokies) - not that Coles is an amazing paragon of virtue.
posted by freethefeet at 11:30 PM on November 8 [2 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 11:30 PM on November 8 [2 favorites]
When Mr MMDP and I got together he came complete with a Nestle boycott, which means checking various confectionary and other products every time we shop. I also haven't been into a McDonald's since 1996 (rainforest and beef cattle).
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 12:12 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 12:12 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
Hobby Lobby. They won a supreme court case to allow the company to limit birth control options provided to their employees by their health insurance plan, in line with the religious beliefs of the company owners. Basically, the business is allowed to have religious beliefs.
posted by dorey_oh at 12:22 AM on November 9 [33 favorites]
posted by dorey_oh at 12:22 AM on November 9 [33 favorites]
Surely X is the obvious one and needs no explanation. Trump has allso said he is going to allow offshore drilling so the oil companies that take him up are other obvious ones.
posted by TheRaven at 12:48 AM on November 9 [13 favorites]
posted by TheRaven at 12:48 AM on November 9 [13 favorites]
AirBnB. I've been watching its terrible impact on European cities for years now, and I firmly believe that the sharp inflation in property prices (at least partly driven by AirBnB taking a lot of starter homes off the market) is a proximate cause of the rise of the right.
posted by frumiousb at 1:02 AM on November 9 [23 favorites]
posted by frumiousb at 1:02 AM on November 9 [23 favorites]
Chick-fil-A for its support of anti-LGTBQ+ organizations.
posted by Sukey Says at 2:19 AM on November 9 [36 favorites]
posted by Sukey Says at 2:19 AM on November 9 [36 favorites]
Meta (Fb, insta, WhatsApp), Amazon, X, Airbnb are the main ones. Airbnb same rationale as above. Meta, data privacy and I don’t need social media in my life. Amazon, not happy about their impact on local economies + environmental concerns of getting something shipped every time I feel I need to buy something. I try to buy little and when I do buy it from local stores. All car manufacturers but especially Tesla? I choose to not have a car due to the environmental impacts and either bike/walk for my daily life and trains/public transport or a car share (usually a Toyota) for trips.
posted by newsomz at 2:22 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
posted by newsomz at 2:22 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
Home Depot values poor quality and cheapness over safety. My contractor relative says that, for example, their gas pipes are “criminal” and are the cause of houses blowing up sometimes.
posted by Melismata at 3:09 AM on November 9 [8 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 3:09 AM on November 9 [8 favorites]
I asked my superannuation fund (retirement savings that you can't touch until you turn 65) manager to move me away from oil and gas - away from anything that contributes to climate change.
Also, I have a bank account and a credit card with two financial institutions (Beyond Bank Australia and Members Equity) that do good things, both in terms of avoiding funding coal mining, but also in terms of funding community projects like wheelchair accessible playgrounds.
(Beyond Bank is an Australian customer-owned bank operating in South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales. It is a certified B Corp.)
There are very few companies that I boycott (between my food intolerances and needing everything home delivered, that would make my life impossible), but there are a lot of companies that I deliberately shop at if I can because they are social enterprises eg have an environmental or community goal instead of just a profit goal.
Michael Sheen talking about social enterprises.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:05 AM on November 9 [4 favorites]
Also, I have a bank account and a credit card with two financial institutions (Beyond Bank Australia and Members Equity) that do good things, both in terms of avoiding funding coal mining, but also in terms of funding community projects like wheelchair accessible playgrounds.
(Beyond Bank is an Australian customer-owned bank operating in South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales. It is a certified B Corp.)
There are very few companies that I boycott (between my food intolerances and needing everything home delivered, that would make my life impossible), but there are a lot of companies that I deliberately shop at if I can because they are social enterprises eg have an environmental or community goal instead of just a profit goal.
Michael Sheen talking about social enterprises.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:05 AM on November 9 [4 favorites]
Also whenever I am buying paper - printer paper, notepads - I try to buy Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper, which is less likely to have contributed to the loss of old growth forest/wildlife habitat.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:12 AM on November 9 [7 favorites]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:12 AM on November 9 [7 favorites]
I am not sure that I'd call it a boycott, but I don't patronize Chik-fil-a or Hobby Lobby for the reasons above, and I have also never forgiven Cracker Barrel for its full-throated anti-gay policies in the 90s.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:15 AM on November 9 [9 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 5:15 AM on November 9 [9 favorites]
I don't think boycotts do much but just the same I won't eat at Chik-fil-A and, though I doubt I'd find a lot I need there anyway (lots of acrylic yarns in primary colors is my guess) I've never gone into a Hobby Lobby.
posted by less-of-course at 5:25 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
posted by less-of-course at 5:25 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
Oh and +1 for Airbnb I guess though I barely travel so it's not much of a boycott but I hate what they've done to cities.
posted by less-of-course at 5:27 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
posted by less-of-course at 5:27 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
Uber and similar ride booking agencies, because I used to drive taxis for money and the ride share "disruptors" have made that an even harder way to eke out a pitiful living, both for taxi drivers and ride share drivers. Also, Travis Kalanick is a c*nt.
posted by flabdablet at 5:31 AM on November 9 [8 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 5:31 AM on November 9 [8 favorites]
whenever I am buying paper - printer paper, notepads - I try to buy Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper, which is less likely to have contributed to the loss of old growth forest/wildlife habitat
Good point. Also there is no good reason to buy toilet paper made from anything but recycled waste paper, and no good reason to buy it from outfits that insist on packaging it in plastic film, or in individual propaganda-laden roll wraps inside corrugated cardboard boxes (looking at you, Who Gives A Crap).
posted by flabdablet at 5:34 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
Good point. Also there is no good reason to buy toilet paper made from anything but recycled waste paper, and no good reason to buy it from outfits that insist on packaging it in plastic film, or in individual propaganda-laden roll wraps inside corrugated cardboard boxes (looking at you, Who Gives A Crap).
posted by flabdablet at 5:34 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
I will eventually acquire a battery electric vehicle but it won't be one of Tesla's because of the extensive amount of effort that corporation has put into union busting and fucking up right to repair.
Likewise, I will never buy any piece of machinery from John Deere, or any product made by Apple, on the same basis.
posted by flabdablet at 5:41 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
Likewise, I will never buy any piece of machinery from John Deere, or any product made by Apple, on the same basis.
posted by flabdablet at 5:41 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
Any company with intrusive advertising. If I see it and it annoys me, I am done. This means I don't buy most brand names that the average person would recognize.
The biggest part of this is that I long ago developed a dislike for recurring ads, and began boycotting the products advertised, and also boycotting any company that telemarketed to me back in the eighties, but more recently this is also because many name brands are reliant on reputation over quality. It used to be that secondary brands and generic brands were frequently worse than than the name brands. In the last two years that has notably been flipping. For example Hellman's mayonnaise has turned into a slimy goop similar to Miracle Whip, except not sweet, while various house brands are still capable of mounding. Most name brand chocolate bars have dropped their chocolate percentage on their chocolate coated confections, so Oh Henry, Mr Big, Mars Bar, etc, have become candy bars instead of chocolate bars, while the off brands still have the higher percentage of chocolate so they can legal still call themself a chocolate bar. I find this stealthy drop in quality to be on the borderline with fraud. If there is hidden shrinkflation I will avoid the brand after that as they have indicated that they can't be trusted. I completely understand them raising prices, but when they pretend not to they lose my trust.
Value Village for pretending to be a charity. The Diabetes Association for allowing Value Village to masquerade as a charity using their name.
Amazon for variable pricing, based off differing IP and previous spending history. The less you spend there, the higher the prices, which will additionally change and increase after the item is in your shopping cart. I was avoiding them really hard because of their wage theft, but now I won't buy from them even out of desperation.
Any company involved in fossil fuel production. This is not to say I don't support them indirectly as I buy products that have been shipped by truck or train and I take buses and taxis.
Wendy's for introducing surge pricing. I believe they dropped it almost immediately, but it's not worth my trouble to keep track of if they drop it or reintroduce it. They broke through my trust thermocline.
Nestle, for trying to get a water monopoly. Man, they have a lot of subsidiary brands, which I review every year or two to make sure I am not buying their products. I also check the small print on the food packaging.
Any bank or financial institution that practices usury, eg. has an interest rate on debt owed to the bank above what was legally considered usury forty years ago. I don't go in debt. Period. Having seen where student loans have locked people into debt bondage I am very glad that I took on the practice of assuming if I can't pay for it in full I can't afford, back when I got my first credit card at eighteen-years-old. I basically regard them ethically as equivalent to loan sharks entrapping people.
Any large registered charity that pays executive salaries. An example of this is a well known breast cancer research charity that raises money by coercing unpaid volunteer work from the their corporate sponsors' employees. Their percentage spent on salaries and wages doesn't look that appalling until you realise that it goes almost entirely to their C suite.
A certain family run charity where the president of the charity cries on cue at every presentation I've been to. It's real tears, but he can do it at every presentation, so it's quite the party trick. I used to have to attend the presentations yearly and he used to cry every year.
Any company that sells bottled water. Given the size of the conglomerates involved this means that I am doing a LOT of cooking from scratch.
Anything marketed as organic. I worked in the industry for awhile, and at that time nothing marketed as organic actually WAS organic by the time it reached the consumer.
All producers of farmed Atlantic salmon, especially Cooke Aquaculture, because of their environmental impact.
Any independent health professional that does corporate style personalized advertising. I switched dentists after getting a family picture at Christmas. The corporate advertising indicates bloat.
Apple, because I know how the sausage is made. That's another company that has modified the product purely to increase sales. They used to have good products but have moved to instead having good reputation not supported by the quality of their products.
Monsanto, not because they do genetic modification, but because they entrap people who farm into using a series of environmentally damaging products.
posted by Jane the Brown at 5:59 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
The biggest part of this is that I long ago developed a dislike for recurring ads, and began boycotting the products advertised, and also boycotting any company that telemarketed to me back in the eighties, but more recently this is also because many name brands are reliant on reputation over quality. It used to be that secondary brands and generic brands were frequently worse than than the name brands. In the last two years that has notably been flipping. For example Hellman's mayonnaise has turned into a slimy goop similar to Miracle Whip, except not sweet, while various house brands are still capable of mounding. Most name brand chocolate bars have dropped their chocolate percentage on their chocolate coated confections, so Oh Henry, Mr Big, Mars Bar, etc, have become candy bars instead of chocolate bars, while the off brands still have the higher percentage of chocolate so they can legal still call themself a chocolate bar. I find this stealthy drop in quality to be on the borderline with fraud. If there is hidden shrinkflation I will avoid the brand after that as they have indicated that they can't be trusted. I completely understand them raising prices, but when they pretend not to they lose my trust.
Value Village for pretending to be a charity. The Diabetes Association for allowing Value Village to masquerade as a charity using their name.
Amazon for variable pricing, based off differing IP and previous spending history. The less you spend there, the higher the prices, which will additionally change and increase after the item is in your shopping cart. I was avoiding them really hard because of their wage theft, but now I won't buy from them even out of desperation.
Any company involved in fossil fuel production. This is not to say I don't support them indirectly as I buy products that have been shipped by truck or train and I take buses and taxis.
Wendy's for introducing surge pricing. I believe they dropped it almost immediately, but it's not worth my trouble to keep track of if they drop it or reintroduce it. They broke through my trust thermocline.
Nestle, for trying to get a water monopoly. Man, they have a lot of subsidiary brands, which I review every year or two to make sure I am not buying their products. I also check the small print on the food packaging.
Any bank or financial institution that practices usury, eg. has an interest rate on debt owed to the bank above what was legally considered usury forty years ago. I don't go in debt. Period. Having seen where student loans have locked people into debt bondage I am very glad that I took on the practice of assuming if I can't pay for it in full I can't afford, back when I got my first credit card at eighteen-years-old. I basically regard them ethically as equivalent to loan sharks entrapping people.
Any large registered charity that pays executive salaries. An example of this is a well known breast cancer research charity that raises money by coercing unpaid volunteer work from the their corporate sponsors' employees. Their percentage spent on salaries and wages doesn't look that appalling until you realise that it goes almost entirely to their C suite.
A certain family run charity where the president of the charity cries on cue at every presentation I've been to. It's real tears, but he can do it at every presentation, so it's quite the party trick. I used to have to attend the presentations yearly and he used to cry every year.
Any company that sells bottled water. Given the size of the conglomerates involved this means that I am doing a LOT of cooking from scratch.
Anything marketed as organic. I worked in the industry for awhile, and at that time nothing marketed as organic actually WAS organic by the time it reached the consumer.
All producers of farmed Atlantic salmon, especially Cooke Aquaculture, because of their environmental impact.
Any independent health professional that does corporate style personalized advertising. I switched dentists after getting a family picture at Christmas. The corporate advertising indicates bloat.
Apple, because I know how the sausage is made. That's another company that has modified the product purely to increase sales. They used to have good products but have moved to instead having good reputation not supported by the quality of their products.
Monsanto, not because they do genetic modification, but because they entrap people who farm into using a series of environmentally damaging products.
posted by Jane the Brown at 5:59 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
There are probably a bunch more, like Spotify, that I have never purchased something from and never will, on account of what I have heard about them. I don't think it counts as a boycott if I never bought anything from them.
The list of companies that I know about and will never buy something from them is long and includes the standard American companies people above are mentioning Chik-fil-a, Hobby Lobby etc. I have brand recognition in this case, but nothing else since I am unlikely to visit the USA and have the opportunity to boycott them.
In my case the list of companies I will scorn includes some gaming companies that have treated their employees wrong but whose names haven't stuck with me. If I get tempted to buy a game I am going to have to do some research first. I tend to stick to independent developers who are just emerging. They might turn out to be weasels, but because they are small they will have been incapable of doing too much damage.
Any number of sports franchises and media production companies are on my drop-dead-I-will-never-spend-money-on-you list too. It's notable that the Good Omen's franchise is running into the kind of reputation that makes me think twice before supporting an entertainment company. It's a big grey area, because I believe it is possible to read Charles Dickens and be an ethical person, and to enjoy his books, because despite how he treated his wife, he's dead and isn't profiting when I read his books. But if I discard the Good Omen's franchise there are a LOT of people who were working for that organization who are now no longer going to get the wages they had anticipated for working in wardrobe, or sound or admin, etc. And yet... I can't bring myself to pay money when a notable percentage of it will go to a predatory creep.
The biggest part of my budget for the music that I listen to is going to buskers, just as the biggest part of my charitable donations are going to panhandlers.
Oh! I forgot - the Salvation Army doesn't get money from me any more, since they took up lobbying in Africa to get homosexuality criminalized. That's another important one that I have been boycotting for decades now.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:23 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]
The list of companies that I know about and will never buy something from them is long and includes the standard American companies people above are mentioning Chik-fil-a, Hobby Lobby etc. I have brand recognition in this case, but nothing else since I am unlikely to visit the USA and have the opportunity to boycott them.
In my case the list of companies I will scorn includes some gaming companies that have treated their employees wrong but whose names haven't stuck with me. If I get tempted to buy a game I am going to have to do some research first. I tend to stick to independent developers who are just emerging. They might turn out to be weasels, but because they are small they will have been incapable of doing too much damage.
Any number of sports franchises and media production companies are on my drop-dead-I-will-never-spend-money-on-you list too. It's notable that the Good Omen's franchise is running into the kind of reputation that makes me think twice before supporting an entertainment company. It's a big grey area, because I believe it is possible to read Charles Dickens and be an ethical person, and to enjoy his books, because despite how he treated his wife, he's dead and isn't profiting when I read his books. But if I discard the Good Omen's franchise there are a LOT of people who were working for that organization who are now no longer going to get the wages they had anticipated for working in wardrobe, or sound or admin, etc. And yet... I can't bring myself to pay money when a notable percentage of it will go to a predatory creep.
The biggest part of my budget for the music that I listen to is going to buskers, just as the biggest part of my charitable donations are going to panhandlers.
Oh! I forgot - the Salvation Army doesn't get money from me any more, since they took up lobbying in Africa to get homosexuality criminalized. That's another important one that I have been boycotting for decades now.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:23 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]
Any bank or financial institution that practices usury
Oh yeah, banking!
All my banking for the last fifty years has been with what used to be a credit union that has since merged with heaps of others to form Bank Australia.
The spread between the interest rates it offers on deposits and those it charges on loans is narrow, as you'd expect from an organization whose structure gives it no reason to siphon money off into the pockets of otherwise uninvolved shareholders. The level of service offered to customers is as you'd expect when the customers own the organization. And, as you'd expect from an organization that's an outgrowth of the union movement, it treats its staff well too.
If you're currently banking with a traditional commercial bank, take this as a strong recommendation to look around for a local credit union that will let you do all the same stuff without ripping you off.
Superannuation: I'm with Australian Ethical, having switched to them late last year after finally figuring out that my former superannuation provider's "sustainable balanced" option was no such thing but was in fact loaded up with substantial investments in fossil fuel miners.
Subscription streaming "services": Total boycott because no. Just no. All my video and audio needs are met from a great big file server in my back shed, stocked by a combination of my personal vinyl and CD rips, purchases from individual artists and outfits like Patreon and Bandcamp, and piracy via the cheapest Netherlands-based seedbox on offer at ultra.cc and local downloads facilitated by yt-dlp. On my phone I have Grayjay.
The entire advertising industry: can fuck right off. I want no part of the lying-industrial complex, and won't browse the web with any browser that doesn't support uBlock Origin. This is also a large part of what motivates me to avoid streaming, and to have ABC Radio National as the only preset I care about on the car radio.
posted by flabdablet at 6:48 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
Oh yeah, banking!
All my banking for the last fifty years has been with what used to be a credit union that has since merged with heaps of others to form Bank Australia.
The spread between the interest rates it offers on deposits and those it charges on loans is narrow, as you'd expect from an organization whose structure gives it no reason to siphon money off into the pockets of otherwise uninvolved shareholders. The level of service offered to customers is as you'd expect when the customers own the organization. And, as you'd expect from an organization that's an outgrowth of the union movement, it treats its staff well too.
If you're currently banking with a traditional commercial bank, take this as a strong recommendation to look around for a local credit union that will let you do all the same stuff without ripping you off.
Superannuation: I'm with Australian Ethical, having switched to them late last year after finally figuring out that my former superannuation provider's "sustainable balanced" option was no such thing but was in fact loaded up with substantial investments in fossil fuel miners.
Subscription streaming "services": Total boycott because no. Just no. All my video and audio needs are met from a great big file server in my back shed, stocked by a combination of my personal vinyl and CD rips, purchases from individual artists and outfits like Patreon and Bandcamp, and piracy via the cheapest Netherlands-based seedbox on offer at ultra.cc and local downloads facilitated by yt-dlp. On my phone I have Grayjay.
The entire advertising industry: can fuck right off. I want no part of the lying-industrial complex, and won't browse the web with any browser that doesn't support uBlock Origin. This is also a large part of what motivates me to avoid streaming, and to have ABC Radio National as the only preset I care about on the car radio.
posted by flabdablet at 6:48 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
I terminated my Facebook and Instagram accounts (and never had WhatsApp, but won't sign up for that either) due to FB's persistent willingness to be complicit in the Big Lie. Twitter for obvious reasons. I haven't completely eliminated Amazon from my life, but I rely on it less and less. I don't completely boycott Google (there are people I collaborate with who use it), but it's not my search engine and I moved my mail hosting away from it. I've never been to a Chick Fil A because it just wasn't around when I was growing up and I'm not going to seek it out now. Even apart from Hobby Lobby being a loathsome company, its stores drive me crazy.
posted by adamrice at 6:57 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 6:57 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
Because of the genocide in Palestine, it's not good to buy from Starbucks, Coca Cola, McDonald's, "Israeli" grown fruit or vegetables (e.g. medjool dates ). The Boycott Divest and Sanctions website has other brands they suggest boycotting including HP, Siemens, and Sabra.
posted by perrouno at 6:58 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
posted by perrouno at 6:58 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]
I terminated my Facebook and Instagram accounts (and never had WhatsApp, but won't sign up for that either) due to FB's persistent willingness to be complicit in the Big Lie.
I never signed up for FB in the first place, having instantly filed them under Irredeemable Pricks for weaponizing the Joe Job as their initial means for building a public user base.
The younguns won't remember this, but there once was a time when people's email addresses were private and giving somebody else your email address included an expectation that they would not shit all over that privacy. Facebook ruined that, inveigling new users into uploading their entire address books via signup spam with spoofed From: addresses sourced from the very address books they were stealing. Fuckers.
I wanted no part of it and still don't, and the prejudice that Facebook instilled in me has since kept me off every other social media platform except MeFi and mefi.social.
posted by flabdablet at 7:10 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]
I never signed up for FB in the first place, having instantly filed them under Irredeemable Pricks for weaponizing the Joe Job as their initial means for building a public user base.
The younguns won't remember this, but there once was a time when people's email addresses were private and giving somebody else your email address included an expectation that they would not shit all over that privacy. Facebook ruined that, inveigling new users into uploading their entire address books via signup spam with spoofed From: addresses sourced from the very address books they were stealing. Fuckers.
I wanted no part of it and still don't, and the prejudice that Facebook instilled in me has since kept me off every other social media platform except MeFi and mefi.social.
posted by flabdablet at 7:10 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]
I promised my friend who runs an independent bookstore that I would avoid Amazon. I’m not perfect at doing so but try to. Amazon has driven booksellers out of business while doing all kinds of terrible stuff. I can’t find it right now but somewhere they were rated as one of the companies lobbying against democracy.
posted by johngoren at 7:34 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
posted by johngoren at 7:34 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
Trader Joe's because they're trying to completely destroy labor unions in the US with a lawsuit that argues the NLRB is unconstitutional.
Amazon also signed on to that lawsuit, because of course they did. It's hard to avoid Amazon entirely, but I always look elsewhere online first and I'll pay more to buy things somewhere else. Between Walmart.com, AliExpress, and eBay you can find most of the same low-quality third-party vendor crap Amazon has, often for less. (not that those companies are any better except that they don't control the market). I cancelled Prime many years ago.
Anything Elon Musk touches. Radioactive forever.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:36 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
Amazon also signed on to that lawsuit, because of course they did. It's hard to avoid Amazon entirely, but I always look elsewhere online first and I'll pay more to buy things somewhere else. Between Walmart.com, AliExpress, and eBay you can find most of the same low-quality third-party vendor crap Amazon has, often for less. (not that those companies are any better except that they don't control the market). I cancelled Prime many years ago.
Anything Elon Musk touches. Radioactive forever.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:36 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
I avoid
Panera Bread and New Balance--both owned by arch conservative, big-time republican donors
Consumer products made by the Koch Brothers:
Angel Soft toilet paper
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie paper/plastic cups
Vanity Fair paper plates and plastic cutlery
posted by BadgerDoctor at 8:11 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]
Panera Bread and New Balance--both owned by arch conservative, big-time republican donors
Consumer products made by the Koch Brothers:
Angel Soft toilet paper
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie paper/plastic cups
Vanity Fair paper plates and plastic cutlery
posted by BadgerDoctor at 8:11 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]
Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank are far, far too deep into shady practices and dirty deals to be trustworthy.
posted by SPrintF at 8:54 AM on November 9
posted by SPrintF at 8:54 AM on November 9
We boycott anything having to do with the Chicago Cubs because they are owned by the Ricketts family, which (like the Koch brothers and others of that ilk) directs millions of dollars to Republican politics and causes.
posted by DrGail at 9:15 AM on November 9
posted by DrGail at 9:15 AM on November 9
Yeah, I would never go to Hobby Lobby, nor Chik-Fil-A, and I always tell the Salvation Army bellringers why I won't contribute to them.
Didn't know about New Balance. Ugh. Only buy like one pair every couple of years, but, those are the shoes I like!!!
Don't do Nestle, or any of those Koch products. But, did buy two Teslas before Elno showed his true colors, (won't do that again). Ms. Windo and I ended up with service appointments on the same morning, and she had to wait until my car was done. As we left, she said, "we have to be done with Tesla, I felt physically ill sitting in the waiting area". Best charging network though.
posted by Windopaene at 9:51 AM on November 9
Didn't know about New Balance. Ugh. Only buy like one pair every couple of years, but, those are the shoes I like!!!
Don't do Nestle, or any of those Koch products. But, did buy two Teslas before Elno showed his true colors, (won't do that again). Ms. Windo and I ended up with service appointments on the same morning, and she had to wait until my car was done. As we left, she said, "we have to be done with Tesla, I felt physically ill sitting in the waiting area". Best charging network though.
posted by Windopaene at 9:51 AM on November 9
Ikea because of the illegal logging and the anti-competitive way they bought and shut down their rival Habitat in the UK.
Nestle for obvious reasons.
Samworth Brothers - Ginsters/Soreen
Brave web browser for the endless fuckery
Salvation Army because of their homophobia.
VW/Audi because they lied to millions about they way their cars were polluting the planet, the legal consequences have been a slap on the wrist compared to the damage they have done to the environment.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, because I know people who worked in the head office and experienced the toxic culture first hand.
What Three Words just for being (in my opinion) dangerously incompetent.
Spotify for filling the planet with bogus music and political bias.
Amazon are hard to avoid, but between the counterfeit problems and the fact that almost everything is cheaper elsewhere now, I use them very rarely.
posted by Lanark at 2:24 PM on November 9
Nestle for obvious reasons.
Samworth Brothers - Ginsters/Soreen
Brave web browser for the endless fuckery
Salvation Army because of their homophobia.
VW/Audi because they lied to millions about they way their cars were polluting the planet, the legal consequences have been a slap on the wrist compared to the damage they have done to the environment.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, because I know people who worked in the head office and experienced the toxic culture first hand.
What Three Words just for being (in my opinion) dangerously incompetent.
Spotify for filling the planet with bogus music and political bias.
Amazon are hard to avoid, but between the counterfeit problems and the fact that almost everything is cheaper elsewhere now, I use them very rarely.
posted by Lanark at 2:24 PM on November 9
This reminds of a thing that shocked me (during tromp 1, IIRC. The SPLC used Uline packaging to send out donation bait. I wrote to them after receiving, to let them know. Never heard back; a subsequent “gift” used same shipping products. I hope they have gotten their act together.
posted by tingting at 4:00 PM on November 9
posted by tingting at 4:00 PM on November 9
Just this morning, my sister sent me this Instagram reel about which businesses did or did not donate to the Trump campaign.
When I'm trying to make sure my money goes to people that share my values, another approach I take is to shop as much as possible at my local food co-op. They don't have everything and it does get expensive, but I feel confident that most everything in that store is made by companies with decent values who support their employees. (Perhaps not 100% correct all the time, but surely a safer bet than assuming that about, say, Target.) (Shout-out to Target for NOT donating to the Trump campaign, even though I'm sure they carry lots of brands that did.)
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 10:56 AM on November 10
When I'm trying to make sure my money goes to people that share my values, another approach I take is to shop as much as possible at my local food co-op. They don't have everything and it does get expensive, but I feel confident that most everything in that store is made by companies with decent values who support their employees. (Perhaps not 100% correct all the time, but surely a safer bet than assuming that about, say, Target.) (Shout-out to Target for NOT donating to the Trump campaign, even though I'm sure they carry lots of brands that did.)
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 10:56 AM on November 10
I always at least try to find a product not made in China. I'm usually willing to spend two or three times as much, which I 100% recognize is a thing that I can only do because of my privilege. And even then I don't always succeed. Anyway it's because of the Uyghur genocide. If you are looking for specific products to avoid, start with anything on Amazon with a six-letter company name that you don't recognize.
posted by novalis_dt at 11:48 AM on November 10
posted by novalis_dt at 11:48 AM on November 10
I boycott Marvel movies. I wouldn't be their biggest consumer, but specifically don't like how this style of movie has changed the filmscape and centered the film market on massive movies based on existing IP. They're supermassive black holes, and up and coming directors (and actors) become tied up for a decade or more making these movies.
posted by benbenson at 7:56 AM on November 11
posted by benbenson at 7:56 AM on November 11
I won't compete in any national-level NFAA archery competitions because of their absolutely ridiculous rules about trans athletes. I'd like to say that I've started a boycott, but so far there are maybe five of us.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:49 PM on November 11
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:49 PM on November 11
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posted by aubilenon at 10:57 PM on November 8 [34 favorites]