Boycott!!!

[Nik Drou]

I have recently come to the more-than slightly-pathetic decision to boycott Tescos (there's one Tesco Express in my home town which I rarely bother with anyway) because of their appropriation of slave labour. Not to seem down on boycotting, of course. It's one of the more forthright and effective ways of voicing disapproval, particularly when a large group of people do it at the same time. If you don't like something, don't financially support the thing that does it. It needn't bring the world to a crashing halt, but it's nice to feel like you're exerting some form of control over your own destiny, against the forces of Tesco and what-not. Here are a couple of my other boycotts, in order of non-embarrassment:

I am still boycotting Nestles because of the whole baby food instructions thing. Have they sorted that out yet?

I am still boycotting Marvel Entertainment because of One More Day.

Anyone else boycotting things?

[yokel]

I don't eat Sabra hummus because they've supported the IDF and in the first place, I never really cared for Hummus.

[I accept the terms of the]

Sabra hummus

Something inside so strong, I know that I can make it, 'cos you doing me wrong, so wrong

[Nobody Soup]

yes, I am rather keen on picketing tesco. I keep thinking I should print off some of those articles and distribute them at the front door or stealthily slip them in amongst the shelves

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I've been avoiding Tesco for over a year due to the whole Stokes Croft store fiasco.  Not because of the riots, the Tesco store got attacked that night because of the strength of feeling there already was in the community over the store, but it certainly left an even worse taste in the mouth afterwards.  So yeah, I've not gone to Tesco for a long time, and I can't say I miss it much.  But then I do live in a very ethnically diverse place with lots of interesting food shops.

It seems a bit of an odd thing to announce I'm boycotting Tesco now, with that in mind.  But yes, I'm most definitely boycotting the place.  I have every intention of boycotting everywhere that is taking benefit slaves.

I boycotted Coca-Cola for a long time because of various goings on in Colombia.  The international boycott on them is over now, but I still don't really drink it.  (I also found I prefer Pepsi anyway.)

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Still somehow successfully boycotted Maccy Donalds. Total of two meals in ten years which Im happy with. Lots of products are easy to boycott because they dont even sell things Id ever buy to begin with.

[thugler]

I see it as the tory governments fault rather than tescos.

tescos is a cheap supermarket and thus I need to shop there from time to time.

[eluc55]

Yeah, I'm planning on boycotting Tesco's over this, too - I'm going to make a complaint first, and see if anything changes in the next few weeks when the pressure builds, then if not, I'll go elsewhere.

I've been umming and ahhing about it all day as (selfish alert) I get everything delivered direct to my flat so I can monitor what I spend, plus their service is really good, easy and hugely convenient - but I really can't justify that if Tesco continue down this route.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I see it as the tory governments fault rather than tescos.

Partially true, but you can't boycott the government, and Tesco don't seem to have any moral problem with it - whereas Sainsbury's have at least recognised it's not so great.  Do you live in a Tesco only town?  Can you really not go somewhere else?

[WesterlyWinds]

Well technically you can boycott the government.

[Hank Venture]

I boycott fast food joints in general after having worked in one. I really don't like anything about them. The food is utter garbage as well.

[Famous Mortimer]

It's difficult, because if you're skint and the only place within walking distance to get food is a Tesco, then choices become more limited. I hope this becomes a wider discussion about how they run roughshod over planning laws, bribe local and national government and treat employees and food producers like dirt.

[The Roofdog]

It's only a matter of time before they declare war on Denmark.

[Thursday]

Boycotting Tesco's is really going to make life more difficult for me, so I don't know how consistently I'll keep this up, but I'll certainly shop there a lot less for now until I'm moved into an area with other local supermarkets, that'll help. Part of the problem is other flatmates who might not want to do the same, so I'll still end up getting stuff from them.

Asda are just as guilty of this as well aren't they? So they're not an acceptable alternative. Tesco have just become of the focus of this as they have more stores.

[Zetetic]

Which terminals at Heathrow are full body scanners in (regular?) use at?

I had understood it was Terminal 5 alone, these days, and hence had been boycotting flights from there (in effect switching from BA to Lufthansa, which is a pretty easy choice for other reasons, it turns out).

[George Oscar Bluth II]

The Department for Work and Pensions has come under pressure from Britain's biggest private employer to fundamentally change the terms of one of its flagship unemployment schemes following complaints that jobseekers are being used as taxpayer-subsidised labour in high street chains up and down the country.

Supermarket group Tesco said it has asked DWP officials to make the work experience scheme voluntary after thousands of angry customers wrote in and posted messages on Twitter and the company's Facebook site accusing the multinational of profiting from hundreds of thousands of hours of forced unpaid work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/feb/18/tesco-jobless-scheme-work-experience

[yokel]

Something inside so strong, I know that I can make it, 'cos you doing me wrong, so wrong

Oh dear.. I mispelled humus didn't I? crap.

Actually, let's forego all this boycotting and start an armed uprising:
http://higharka.blogspot.com/2012/02/evil-within-can-you.html

[I accept the terms of the]

Nope. I just wanted to pretend that "Sabra hummus" was a bit like Labi Siffre.

It isn't.

[bomb_dog]

It's not that difficult keeping up a boycott. I do the main ones -

• Nestle (Babymilk)
• Coca Cola and related products (including Innocent fruit smoothies, which I used to love) (Trade union killings, water table and small-town destroying)
• The Body Shop, since being taken over by Nestle and Garnier (shame, as my dandruff has returned and I can't find a different product to do the same job as their ginger shampoo, which they stopped stocking around the same time)
• McDonalds (do I need to mention why?)
• Sky and News International products (for many years - nice to see their comeuppance)
  
• Tesco (local government planning bullying, annoying twee adverts, "apprentice" scheme)
  
  • More recently, Marks and Spencers, for their support of Israel.
  
  There are loads more I would boycott, but I don't shop in them in the first place. So ha to them!
  
  Just looked at my list. Blimey, I'm a lefty-student-type aren't I? Right kids?
  
  It's also hard when you get a quandry between fucking over the planet, or the people who work at the shop - a choice between eco-products from Asda, where other supermarkets and shops in the area have stopped selling the products I buy, or the fact they are trade-union destroying Wal-mart fucks.

[easytarget]

Back in the 1990s when I was a student I consumed huge amounts of instant coffee and the Nescafe was my favourite brand. Our student union banned all Nestle products which struck my student-brains as rather hypocritical – the student union shop still sold Philip Morris products ("fags? Addictive? No, that's just speculation") and The Sun ("urinated on the dead" etc.) and I was small-minded/cynical enough to think "coffee is coffee, Nestle fuck up people because of baby milk – this supposedly ethical brand probably violates some other principal which we all hold dear – it's a fucking bloodbath – gimme the brand I like".

Now, I like to think that I'm wrong, one should boycott companies that have a proven track record of being shitty bastards and maybe give the benefit of the doubt to the others.

So - today I moved my website off of GoDaddy due to the shitty, tacky sexist ads they ran during the Superbowl a couple of weeks ago.

[momatt]

I can't go to Tescos because it's fucking shit, always full of cunts and I hate it.

Also boycott Nestle for the baby milk thing.  They're also shit, so i'm not missing out either way.

Oh and any product that has an annoying advert.

[El Unicornio, mang]

A couple of years ago a very Christian bloke at my work walked into the office (an office with 80% women, I might add) and announced, totally out of the blue, that he was boycotting Starbucks because they "support abortion". As you can imagine, the response was a very awkward silence.

The only place I've ever boycotted is KFC, years ago, after I found out they mistreated chickens (a lot more than other places, anyway). I recently boycotted Chick-fil-A, as it was revealed that they give money to anti-gay organisations, but their food is shit anyway. A gay friend of mine scolds any of his friends who go there but he still shops at Target, who have also been caught contributing to such organisations. Target do have fabulous bargains though, to be fair.

[Milo]

• The Body Shop, since being taken over by Nestle and Garnier (shame, as my dandruff has returned and I can't find a different product to do the same job as their ginger shampoo, which they stopped stocking around the same time)

Try using baby shampoo.

[momatt]

Try using baby shampoo.

Yeah, but that's cruel to the babies they liquify in the production.
You just can't win.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I don't think it's hypocritical to ban Nestlé products but still stock other potentially unethical products, it's a step in the right direction.

[CaledonianGonzo]

In Israel, they've made it illegal to call for boycotts of Israel.

According to the law, a person or an organization calling for the boycott of Israel, including the settlements, can be sued by the boycott's targets without having to prove that they sustained damage. The court will then decide how much compensation is to be paid.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-passes-law-banning-calls-for-boycott-1.372711

Free speech, there, in the last remote bastion of Western civilisation.

[Doomy Dwyer]

I'm a big boycotter. It's the best form of protest. You're doing nothing, and yet and at the same time, you're sticking it to the man. Big time.

Here's a list of the things I'm boycotting –

News International – This has been going on since Wapping. No Sun. No Sky. No Times. Harper Collins can kiss my arse. 

Starbucks – Never been in one. Cultural Imperialism. I'm more of a tea man anyway, to be honest. But they have fucked the highstreet, helped raise rents, closed many an authentic café where you used to be able to get a decent cuppa. Remember the Piccadilly Café? It was in Piccadilly. They used to serve weiner schnitzel and you could take your own wine in. It's gone now, due to pricks drinking this pretend coffee and thinking they're the 'Friends'. "Ohhh it's got cinnamon in it". Grow up.

Nestle – I've flat out wont drink their milk. Do they make malteesers? I had a malteeser the other day. But I didn't pay for it.

Nike – Child labour. Cultural Imperialism. Don't like the logo. Puma are the best out of the lot logo wise. A prancing cat.

Coca Cola – Cultural Imperialism. Fizzy shit. Bad for teeth. I hadn't had a Coke since I was 15. I'm 40 now. I did have one the other day because I'd heard it was good for the old hangover. Worked a treat, so that's 25 years of protest down the pan. Thought we had them on the ropes there too. Pity. Can't win 'em all.

Nuclear Power – Dangerous. I'm mainly electric. Gas for the cooker. Handy when there's a power cut. Little tip there.

Primula Cheese and Chive Squeezy Spread – Don't like the new designs on the tubes. Infantile.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – A wide ranging boycott that has been in place since 2008, encompassing his work with the woeful Grinderman and his lazy soundtrack work with Warren Ellis. He's been floundering for a good decade. Blixa's gone. Mick's gone. Needs to get back on the gear toot sweet.

McDonalds – Utter evil. Don't like clowns. I need to be absolutely famished before I'll break my moral embargo and nibble at their Imperialist teat. But I always feel bloated and guilty afterwards.

Tesco's – Self explanatory. I try to avoid most of the big chains. They've decimated the high street, choked the life out of our towns and driven small, family grocers out of business. Wherever I've lived I've always made an effort to find the smallest supermarket in the area and shop there exclusively. There's a tiny Turkish place on the Seven Sisters road. Open 24 hours. Just one guy hopped up on Red Bull. Amazing. I admit, I do go to Waitrose on occassion. They're just better really, aren't they?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Puma are the best out of the lot logo wise. A prancing cat.

They also employ jamaican rap artists who sing about killing gay people for a laugh to advertise their products over there.

[Doomy Dwyer]

Fucking hell. On the list they go then. That's not on.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

http://www.afterelton.com/music/2006/6/hiphop.html

Ah wait, carry on buying their mass produced sportswear, they listened to complaints and stopped hiring explicitly homophobic rap artists to sell their stuff.

You can decide whether doing that in the first place was the actions of an okay company.