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AmericanProtest.net > Boycotting Liberals |
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Boycotting Liberalsby Wayne Boettcher You may have heard of the famous protester Emile Zola in Paris who wrote a powerful letter to a newspaper titled "J'accuse" (I accuse) in 1898 which had a tremendous impact. He accused the government of corruption and abuse of power, causing upheaval and consternation that shook France to it's core. In today's world things are a little different. During the Clinton administration columns, letters and articles came out again and again detailing corruption, indecency and abuse of power by both government and business, but the level of upheaval was not sufficient to "shake the United States to the core." At times it almost seemed as if our nation would stand for principles of morality and ethics, but it was not to be. The yawn factor overcame the indignation index. So what to do once the evildoers are exposed? What if the accused simply laugh and continue their bad behavior? What if they are unimpressed with the revelation of their misdeeds? Is there nothing that can be done? Surely there is. After "I accuse" can follow "I refuse" where a person or group can refuse to patronize or support a business. The boycott has a long history and can sometimes be very effective. As many times it is not, however. Sometimes a company would rather go out of business than compromise their position. C'est la vie. Then again the company may simply weather the storm and wait until people forget about it. Pro gun rights activists have had success in some instances. For instance, anti-gun nut Rosie O'Donnell pontificated against the right to bear arms while representing KMart, which sold guns and ammo. Soon a boycott swung into action. Then KMart decided to get rid of Rosie...and fast! Just when gun owners were flocking back to KMart, the store eliminated handgun ammunition, reestablishing the boycott. This time, however, without a flashy spokesperson like Rosie to keep it going, the boycott was weathered. Sales went down and problems beset the famous blue-lighted store. Did the fallout from this episode lead to the subsequent bankruptcy and re-organization of this giant discount retailer? "Fake" boycotts occasionally hit the e-mail trail causing consternation and trepidation wherever they land. One persistent and mythical tale tells of Vietnam veterans shunned by Target when they asked for a donation to help build a memorial. Totally false, yet many an angry American vows never to shop again at the hapless store. Another canard paints Dunkin' Doughnuts with a tarry brush, claiming employees at one store celebrated 9-11. Totally untrue, and, even if it were, one stores employee misbehavior would not be cause for a nationwide boycott! Fake boycotts tend to distract from real issues. Individual boycotts give you a feeling of personal satisfaction without necessarily having an economic impact. For instance, I always boycott a certain auto repair shop that ripped me off. A gas station chain seems to claim in commercials that its customers will be hypnotized into buying junk food. Yikes! I tend to avoid that place. Ditto on restaurants that have served a bad meal or given lackadaisical service. An individual boycott is usually one of principle. It may be that a place of business gives money to Planned Parenthood, Greenpeace or the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. You want to make sure your money doesn't filter its way through to some wacky freaked out liberals that want to control your life. In these troubled times every decent American should be boycotting some places. Businesses have to be accountable for what they support. If you find the time you should drop them a note or give a quick call to let them know why you don't patronize them. I also counter-boycott any business I find boycotting Boy Scouts. Jack-in-the-Box is on my list for a personal reason. It all started with a few years ago with a commercial depicting a large group of men expressing disappointment at the thought of not visiting a strip bar. Ever the protester, I fired off an email to the fried food emporium admonishing this tactic, backing up my assertions by recommending they visit the website http://www.victimsofpornography.org to find out about the evils of this insidious industry. I happened to use an email that I had just created, and had no cause to use for any other purpose yet. Suddenly the newly created email address was flooded with porn messages! I could tell by the subject lines that this was no random spam, but newsletters that would be signed up for. I was shocked to say the least. It was easy enough to delete and block the nasty newsletters and none were ever opened but I did call Jack-in-the-Box and learned that complaint emails concerning advertisements were forwarded to the marketing department. I got through to someone claiming to be an executive who denied that their marketing department would ever engage in behavior like that. Having seen their commercials, however, I disbelieved him. We also talked about the stripper club commercial. When I asked why his company would alienate families with commercials like that, he replied that the target customers of the company was not families but males aged 15 - 35 and they would be sticking to these types of commercials. Indeed they have and so Jack-in-the-Box is "Back-in-the-Box" in my book. They're not as bad some others I also do not patronize, though. Many fast food companies seem prone to inflict these types of commercials upon us these days. I certainly hope that Christians would boycott R rated movies but it doesn't seem so. Group boycotts are another entity altogether. Here is where you try to have a specific economic influence on the target company, either to drive them out of business or make them lose so much they change their minds about whatever obnoxious practice they are engaging in. It's hard to boycott a big chain because you have to get the message out everywhere. If you are a conservative it's even harder because the liberal media will fight against you by publishing slanted stories or even ignoring the boycott altogether. You need to band together with other Americans to have an impact. www.onemilliondads.com, www.onemillionmoms.com and www.onemillionyouth.com are protest groups I highly recommend who fight against television and other media indecency. With your help they might tip the balance and restore decency in America. Even if the economic impact is small, sometimes the embarrassment factor can turn the table. A company may simply be humiliated by the facts and information your boycott releases and will move to change their wicked ways. If they are self-conscious of public opinion this may work. You would want to expose as many facts as possible regardless of how many you think would actually join the boycott. The Dixie Chicks did not seem to be financially affected by the boycott against them but it looked to me like the shame of their own statements made them switch from country to some other genre. France is not too happy about so many Americans boycotting their products. The outrage over their perfidy regarding the American-Iraq war rose to a gigantic proportion. Americans responded with enthusiasm to the Franco Fear Factor and soon French products lost many sales. It is true that French's Mustard is not made in France, however, it is not true that the condiment company made a statement saying the only thing they have in common is the color yellow. It's a pretty funny joke, though. Most companies that engage in liberal giveaways try to hide it. They know that conservatives will disapprove and start avoiding their products. They also know that even if someone finds out, they probably won't say anything if no one else knows. I've had some companies refuse to tell me if they support abortion or recently stopped supporting Boy Scouts. Their refusal spoke volumes. Are you funding an anti-gun nut group or a wacky environmentalist anti-business organization? Find out by asking questions and then take your money elsewhere. Let them know you are boycotting them because you've decided it's time to stand up for America! Wayne Boettcher is the owner of American Protest. Related Links |
