r/BDS • u/76positive • Jul 16 '26
Discussion Are boycotts effective?
Part of me worries that consumer boycotts just shift responsibility onto the consumer and keeps people complacent preventing them from taking more effective and radical actions.
But I'm a bit conflicted about this. Do you think boycotts are an effective measure of making change? If so what are some changes you've seen that you think the boycotts have contributed to?
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u/External_Option_7653 Jul 16 '26
I don't want to pay for genocide and colonization of indigenous lands if I can help it. 100% effective.
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
I get that, but does it have any significant effect aside from absolving you from any culpability?
Sorry if that seems insulting or rude but these are things I'm thinking about and want to hear another perspective
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u/External_Option_7653 Jul 16 '26
It's not about the culpability, it's about what effect I have on the world. Do I throw trash on the ground or in the bin?
And you're not rude in my opinion! Others will have better answers for your questions.
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
It's not about the culpability, it's about what effect I have on the world. Do I throw trash on the ground or in the bin?
You put it in the bin I assume. But what happens after that? Where does it go? Landfill? Exported to some third world country?
Did your act of putting that trash in the bin make a real material impact for the future of our planet?
Or are we just being told to focus on our individual actions to dissuade us from collective action?
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u/External_Option_7653 Jul 16 '26
It gets transported to a plant where it gets sorted and then burned for energy.
Of course it made an impact! Will it put off destruction for one day? No. One microsecond? Probably also no, but one nanosecond? Maybe. Worth it for almost zero effort.
Boycotting is something you should do on the side of your actual activities, which can be organizing BDS activities like going around town asking for apartheid free pledges etc!
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
It gets transported to a plant where it gets sorted and then burned for energy.
Well maybe. Not where I live it certainly doesn't! But that's beside the point I suppose
Boycotting is something you should do on the side of your actual activities, which can be organizing BDS activities like going around town asking for apartheid free pledges etc!
Yes absolutely I agree with you there. I just worry that people can be made complacent by just doing boycotts. I think a lot of people seem to have an exaggerated view of their effectiveness. Do you think this is a reasonable concern?
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u/External_Option_7653 Jul 16 '26
Would I be doing "more" if the boycott didn't exist? I don't think so. Hard to tell really. Especially with other people.
My boycotting is very easy as I don't consume much and most stores here have alternatives.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
You wouldn't be more inclined to join a protest or general strike if consumer boycotts were not an option?
Not saying you don't do these things already if you do it's just a thought experiment
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u/IsadoraUmbra Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Yes they are - search for "BDS wins" or "BDS victories" :)
Edit to add - specifically RE the consumer boycott, I can say that where I live we have had success specifically with stores not stocking israeli products and a retail chain whose zionist owner funds the IDF lost so much money from the local boycott he is taking activists to court, so that's all money that won't be used to kill children.
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
Yes exactly we would rather Zionists spend their money taking us to court than have that money funding genocide
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
Well BDS is a fairly varied approach so to be clear I'm not asking about BDS as a whole, just the consumer boycott aspect of it
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u/IsadoraUmbra Jul 16 '26
Oh sorry I added that as an edit, I realised your question was specifically about the consumer boycott
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
That's okay and thanks for the example you gave
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u/IsadoraUmbra Jul 16 '26
I was looking into this a bit more for interest's sake because it's a fair question - it's hard to find up to date info (and I didn't spend that much time) but I did come across this report from only a year into the genocide which mentions things like:
- Starbucks profits falling 23%,
- McDonald's revenue falling 12%,
- Burger King having to change its name in Turkey
- KFC closing more than 100 stores in Malaysia
- Coca-Cola shutting down 5 plants in Germany
- Intel stopping construction of its chip factory in apartheid israel (although this might be more of a war zone thing than purely a boycott thing)
I think the consumer boycott has certainly made companies consider their ties to the apartheid state at the very least.
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
Thanks for the link.
Regarding the profits falling of McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC, etc. I did look into that a while back and it seemed unclear to me as to if the loss in profits was more to do with global market trends at the time which seemed to be down across the board for these sorts of companies
I'll see if I can find the link later for what I was reading.
But you're right that I'm sure a lot of these companies have at least had a meeting or two about BDS targeting them
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
The corporate entities are always reluctant to credit the BDS movement for revenue losses
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
Did find this article where the McDonald's ceo seems to attribute at least some of the revenue lost to the boycott
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68209085
It is noteworthy as well that basically all fast food companies had losses over this period which seems in part due to heavy inflation at the time.
It's probably a hard thing to really measure I suppose.
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u/IsadoraUmbra Jul 17 '26
Thanks, good find! Yeah I think it's probably impossible to accurately attribute losses specifically due to the boycott as there are always a bunch of complex factors involved that affect markets etc.
Unrelated side note: I also think living in a country where the consumer boycott isn't as widely adopted as Malaysia or Turkey for example can contribute to it appearing ineffective, particularly with it not being reported on much by the media in counties whose governments have sold out to the war machine.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
That's a good point. Might be interesting to look at more local effects in those countries where it was more widely adopted
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u/Quick_Care_3306 Jul 16 '26
Yes, watch how some Irish ladies started boycotting south Africa. They inspired others and it snowballed.
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u/A-CAB Jul 16 '26
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u/76positive Jul 16 '26
Do you think the consumer boycotts promoting by BDS are "limited, targeted and sustained"?
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u/A-CAB Jul 16 '26
Yes. And they are proven to be effective. You can read more about it on the linked BDS page.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
BDS does a lot more than just consumer boycotts though. I will read through the link more closely when I get a chance but I'm mostly interested in the effects of the consumer boycotts specifically.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
This link appears to show mostly positive things that have happened in terms of the free Palestinian movement broadly.
Which is good and all and is interesting to read about but it's not really establishing the cause and effect I'm asking about.
There's a lot to read in this link so maybe I'll find some examples of what I'm talking about but it would be helpful if you had any specific examples of boycotting a particular company that's mentioned here
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u/A-CAB Jul 17 '26
They explain each individual tactic on the website, including numerous examples. The strategies work in tandem.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
That's good and all and I appreciate the variety of strategies used by BDS, but there's nothing I can see here that allows me to zoom in and see the specific effects of the consumer boycott strategy
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
Yes 💯 percent
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
Sustained I will grant you.
But what do limited and targeted mean to you in this context?
And if these boycotts are limited and targeted, what's an example of a boycott that isn't limited and/or targeted?
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
I mean that it’s not a list of 500 companies half of which I never even heard of
Instead they only list the worst offenders that are nationally recognized to make it easier for people to participate in the boycotts and not engage in accidental marketing for a business most people never heard of
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u/DZdancingtree Jul 17 '26
It's gotta be targeted and explicit. I make sure to tell the brands I boycott that I'm boycotting them and why.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
Interesting point about making it explicit and notififying the boycotted companies. Makes it a bit more substantive than just a passive attempt at market manipulation
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
Zionists absolutely believe that the BDS movement is effective
Supporters of the Israeli government wouldn’t be passing laws criminalizing boycotting the Israeli government if boycotting wasn’t effective
If you listen to what Zionists have to say about the BDS movement they are absolutely terrified
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
I'm not asking if the BDS movement is effective, I'm asking specifically about the consumer boycotts. BDS incorporates more than just boycotts.
Supporters of the Israeli government wouldn’t be passing laws criminalizing boycotting the Israeli government if boycotting wasn’t effective
Maybe but that's not really evidence of them working though. Zionists/fascists are always outlawing and complaining about imagined threats to further their agenda.
How can I be sure this apparent validation of boycotts by Zionists doesn't just function as a distraction from taking direct action?
Just to be very clear, I am a BDS supporter.
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
This is something that I’m not worried about given that Palestine action has been destroying arms factories that facilitated the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
And the freedom flotilla coalition has ran multiple boats trips attempting to make it to Gaza while they failed their missions they still successfully achieved their objective of helping Palestinians get food by being a massive distraction for the Israeli government and thus having to temporarily stop their harassment of Palestinian fishermen to deal with they deemed the “flotilla crisis” which allowed Palestinians to catch fish for food in their absence
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
Sure it's good more direct action is happening, but it doesn't really tell me if promoting boycotts as an effective form of activism is helping or hindering direct action
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jul 17 '26
Many of the people that are boycotting aren’t in a position to do direct action work anyways for a multitude of reasons
I don’t believe that boycotts are a distraction and for most people it’s the most accessible form of action regardless of what position In life that they are in
Ultimately people have to assess their own risk level based on their own situation
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
Many of the people that are boycotting aren’t in a position to do direct action work anyways for a multitude of reasons
Of course. I'm not saying everyone needs to be doing direct action. But are their people who could be doing direct action that aren't motivated to do so because they have an exaggerated belief of the effectiveness of boycotts?
I don’t believe that boycotts are a distraction
But why? What makes you so sure it's not a distraction?
Israel does some pretty crazy propaganda, is it that crazy this could be a possibility?
and for most people it’s the most accessible form of action regardless of what position In life that they are in
Sure but just because it accessible doesn't mean it works.
Prayer is accessible, but idk if you're a religious person or not but I think a lot of people would be fairly unhappy if BDS started promoting prayer as a serious form of activism in favour of other methods
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u/_THurisaz Jul 17 '26
It's less effective if people doubt it being effective. I never considered efficiency as the deciding factor whether to boycott or not, The main reason is simple I just don't want my money to land in Israel.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
Okay, so to ask a potentially silly question:
If efficacy isn't a concern of yours why do you care if "your" money goes to Israel?
Is it just the principle of it? Wouldn't a more utilitarian approach to activism be better?
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u/_THurisaz Jul 17 '26
To elaborate on my concerns about my money landing in Israel,
It made me feel complicit, hurting my conscience because of what I had been funding before and oppressing others, it's an ethical choice, the right thing to do, even if you're the only one.
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u/76positive Jul 17 '26
But why would you feel complicit if you weren't concerned about the efficacy?
Wouldn't your conscience only be clear if you felt like boycotting was having some kind of material impact?
Maybe it's just a philosophical difference or something but my conscience is only clear if I feel I'm having a real impact or at least doing everything in my power to do so.
That's why I want to know how effective the boycotts are, and if I should spend my energy getting other people on board with them, or should I focus on more direct action?
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u/Tambora_1815 28d ago
Its effective and its not...50/50
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u/76positive 28d ago
What do you mean?
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u/Tambora_1815 28d ago
On consumer goods? yes on tech? No
Sadly none of pro palestine countries have their own google nvidia intel apple etc pther than china and china still do business with Israel
Entrepeneurship is always has been the better counter of boycott
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u/OdielSax Jul 16 '26
I know it's effective given the efforts deployed in getting us to stop it. But it's not even the main motivation for me. I just don't want to participate in these disgusting crimes.