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Boycotts

A boycott is a form of political statement in which a person or group of persons acting in concert refrain from the purchase or use of something. A boycott is a political and social tool that can be used to adversely affect a company, whether large or small, by stopping a flow of money to the company through sales. It is also a practice that can affect an industry, not just a single company. This entry examines boycotts pertaining to the food industry.

Boycotts have been used on many occasions against businesses in the food industry. Unlike a strike, which is a political action undertaken by employees of a company that directly affects the relationship between a company and its workers, a boycott is a political action in which consumers at any level refrain from buying a product. The boycott is designed to (a) force a company to stop producing or selling a product; (b) require the company to alter the product or its policies in order to comply with a political agenda or to induce a change in the product; (c) protest the product itself, to induce change in the way the product is produced; or (d) change company policies that are unrelated to the product.

Boycott activism may be motivated by economic, environmental, or health issues as well as other humanitarian political issues. It has been said that a boycott is a nonviolent form of consumer coercion; however, especially when coordinated with employees who participate in a larger strategy by engaging in strikes and with market interference, the boycott can cause frustration in its participants, which can result in violence.

Early Examples of Boycotts

The Boston Tea Party is perhaps the most famous American boycott, in which prerevolutionary citizens of Boston in 1773 dumped a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in protest of what the citizens considered to be unfair taxes being levied by the British crown on the colonies. It was not aimed at a traditional corporate entity, but nonetheless, the action was motivated by a political agenda. This boycott encouraged consumers to not drink the tea being taxed, and the boycotters ensured that there was no tea to drink by destroying the tea. There was no aspect of marketing to convince consumers not to drink tea. This boycott prevented the behavior. The Boston Tea Party can be considered the inciting incident of the American Revolution. It certainly legitimizes the history of the boycott in America. It may also have influenced the drinking habits of Americans. While it was not successful in changing the taxation practices of the British government, this boycott was a clear message to the authorities that the British subjects were unhappy with the taxation.

Almost two decades later, in 1791, antislavery forces in England organized a boycott of sugar produced through slave labor. Sugar produced in India was produced by paid agricultural workers. Consumers switched their sugar purchases to sugar advertised to be made by free men. This is an early example of a successful fair-trade style of boycott.

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