I participated in my first boycott when I was 17 years old. I decided to boycott all things Arizona…including the state. Why? Living in Colorado, you often hear about what’s going on in neighboring states. I learned about how they didn’t want to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. In fact, Arizona was one of the last states to adopt the holiday. Initially the holiday ended up being rescinded by the Governor (I’d forgotten about this). Famous African-Americans started to boycott the state, most noteably-Jesse Jackson Jr. and Stevie Wonder. It was made clear that Arizona was not a place to recreate if you were Black or a person who cared about this issue. Interestingly, the Anti-Apartheid protests were really active at this time too.
Eventually, the holiday was passed and I feel like there was some pressure placed on the state from the Federal government as well. Possibly around funding for roads (this could be a false memory). What isn’t a false memory is that the NFL decided to move the Super Bowl from Arizona to California because the holiday was rescinded. Interestingly, when researching this part of the episode I discovered that in 2022 there was another call to boycott Arizona as a place to hold the Super Bowl due to problematic voting by its representatives. Yes, including that weirdo we all know about. You may be surprised to hear that I’ve actually continued to withold spending and avoid taking vacations in Arizona. I’ve visited before and seriously the experience was bad and one of the places I had the most racist microagressions in the US. I’m a proudly consistent hater of Arizona. What does any of this have to do with designing a boycott strategy that works for you? I’ve been at this for awhile-listen on, I have insight, tips and more details on the importance of boycotting.
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Listen to the Episode
Show Notes
If you’re considering boycotting for the first time you’re probably getting a lot of differing and confusing messages. I’m going to share some insight and different points of view than the ones I keep seeing online. I’ll them tips.
Tip #1
Stop Listening to the Purists
The purists are the folks who seem to lack any sense of nuance. All or nothing, won’t work for most people who are looking to boycott for the first time. For many people, beginning a boycott could literally be taking a first step to say “This organization/person/ or business’s actions are against how I live my life. I need to do something about it.” For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use Target as the example in this podcast episode. People are boycotting Target because of their rollback on DEI initiatives. Now the initial reaction was emotionally which is how these things usually work in the beginning. With calls for people to stop shopping at Target. But what if you live in a town where Target is the only place you can shop for groceries, get your medicine? Or, is ADA accessible?
Maybe your boycott is to order items from Target from Black owned businesses for pick up vs. going into the store. Because remember that Target’s business model really is aspirational in nature. Many Target shoppers will joke that they go inside the store with the intention of buying 3 items on their list and then leave with 72 random items. By taking this one action (ordering online and picking up your order) vs. going inside you’ve lowered your overall order spend. Order spend is a piece of data that every business is tracking. Now imagine if 100’s of thousands of guests lowered their previous order spend from $300 to $45-that’s a huge change in spending that will impact a company’s bottomline. Purists wouldn’t think about this. I do. I say this as a person who won’t step foot or spend with Target for at least the next year. They need to miss my dollars.
Tip #2
Boycotting is an Opportunity, Not a Punishment
When people think about boycotting a beloved space, place or product. They will often think about initially as a source of punishment. From a negative viewpoint. You can’t have what you want. The reality is that boycotting someone/something etc. that doesn’t value you is an opportunity to reevaluate where your money is going, to decide what is truly important to you and to lift up someone else or discover something to replace the thing that you’re letting go.
Here are some things to consider.
- Most things we’re buying are treats vs. necessary items. There’s more than one way to buy a treat.
- I mentioned that I don’t go to Arizona. Well, there’s desert in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. There are other places to go. I wanted to visit a super cute artist collective town in Texas (another state that I’m boycotting) the town is called Marfa and I wanted to stay at the El Cosmico. Super cute. Instead, I go to Taos and I stay at the Hotel Luna Mystica. I was happy it was just as cool and easier to get to. And I’m loving seeing Canadians make that choice with trips to the US. They are shifting their dollars to other places that aren’t the United States. Love this for them.
- It’s 2025-Technology makes boycotts so much easier to do. There are places to checkout our ideal product or services that are aligned with our interests and values.
- Apps
- Websites
- Communities (paywalled)
Tip #3
Supporting Local Is Always Easier
I’m really fortunate to have grown up in a place where people are really invested in supporting local businesses. It’s a lifelong area of interest and focus that I’ve had. I love visiting local coffee shops. And even though Starbucks in a past lifetime was the one place that would hire me during a really difficult time in my life-I’ve stopped going.
“Instead of boycotting, support local”
I love visiting the small shops, restaurants and spaces that make my town and state unique. It is a pleasure to get to know the people who make these places what they are. It’s also pretty easy to figure out when they are against what you’re for. So, it’s easy to know who to support by seeing who they are and what they do on a consistent basis. Speak to the owners of the businesses in your town. Pay attention to what they say and do and adjust your support accordingly.
Tip #4
Boycotts Aren’t Always Loud
This is specific to the times that we’re in. If you’re a Black person or other visible minority-In 2025 in the United States, I would caution you to avoid being in protest situations where you are the most visible participant. African-American women in particular have made very clear that we’re approaching this moment in time differently.
- Protect your peace
- Protect your physical well-being
- Show up in spaces that are safe for you to be in. Avoid ones that are not.
You know how vegans talk about being vegans all the time? I was one for a month in past life. If you’re participating in a boycott-you don’t need to be vocal about it. You can just shift your spending and keep it moving. Here are some examples of how that works in real life so that you can avoid annoying conversations with that one friend who is triggered by you setting a boundry.
- They suggest going to Target. You counter by saying, “I found the cutest shop let’s go there instead. They even have a cocktail hour.”
- They suggest going to a restaurant owned by a problematic person-You suggest, “Hey I actually have a craving for….” and suggest going to another place instead.
Play chess, not checkers.
Tip #5
Understand the Roll of Technology in Modern Day Spending Behavior
I’m actually truly amazed that the conversation around technology and boycott behavior is lagging as a part of our current conversation around boycotting.
- Unsubscribe from those email lists-The next time I get a Target email I’m unsubscribing. It’s harder to motivate people to spend if they don’t receive ads, etc. If it’s clear to you that the company wouldn’t hire you, or only values your money-cut off all contact.
- Subscribe to the lists of products you would like to support.
- Block all cookies-Every time we land on a website you should be seeing a notification that you may be cookied. REJECT that option.
- Use platforms such as-I’m specifically sharing African American platforms but I’m also familiar with Latino/Asian and Native Owned platforms as well.
- Black Nile
- Black Owned Everything
- BLK & GRN
- BEAN-Black Economic Advancement Network
- EatOkra
- Naspora
- WeBuyBlack
- The 15% Pledge
- Support your allies-If I’m buying a National Branded ice-cream. I’m buying Ben and Jerry’s. IYKYK. Get on their email list.
- Focused online shopping and pick up-Will automatically lower your spending. It’s hard to impulse buy if you’re not in the store.
- Follow your favorite products/etc. online and ASK THEM how you can support their business. And explain that you may be boycotting one of the places that the brand is positioned at.
What are Boycotts Really?
For me, a boycott is the following:
- Setting a boundry, usually ethical, specific to an action or inaction by the place you’ve decided to say “NO” to.
- An opportunity to empower another business, space or individual that you may have just discovered or knew about but are deliberately saying “YES” to moving forward.
- Provides clarity specific to your value as to a business/brand/etc. when you decide to stop actively supporting them. I don’t need to listen to certain musical artists. I can ask Spotify to no longer suggest them to my profile.
- Time to learn more about history. There are so many financial boycotts that have made a difference throughout the course of our history.
- October 1765 American colonies stopped buying British goods
- 1774-American Colonies stopped buying from the East India Company-No tea for us.
- 1965-1970-Delano Grape Strike-Cesar Chavez led agriculture workers on this strike. Fun fact-Denver celebrates Cesar Chavez Day.
- 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott-African Americans stopped using the Montgomery Bus System
- Anti-Apartheid Protests-1986-1990’s
One last thing to consider is that a truly impactful boycott is likely to be a multi-year activity. These one day boycotts are great to get people talking. Multi-year strategies get businesses sqwuaking.
The Most Successful Boycotts
This is all my opinion….a successful boycott has the following core components:
- An idealogical and ethical through point-makes it easy for people to say “HELL NO” to whatever isn’t right.
- Lasts at least a year-In the United States the best boycotts seem to be the ones that last the longest.
- Delivers deep economic impact and harm to investors or a company/places/etc. bottomline
- People online are saying that Target allegedly is backing off their DEI stance. FUCK TARGET. I won’t be going back for at least a year.
- Changes a consumer’s long-term behavior. Remember how I said that I’m STILL not a fan of Arizona-even though I gave them a second chance?
- The place causing harm has to find new people to visit, consume the item, etc. and that creates a financial investment-investments, etc. in order to attract new people to the place.
Who are you boycotting?
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