NationStates Jolt Archive

I was having a discussion at work earlier today about this and just wandered if anybody boycotts and particular products/companies for political or ethical reasons.

I personally do not buy vegetables etc if I notice they were grown in Israel as it may well have been grown on illegally occupied Palestinian land.

Anybody make any similar boycots?

Nope. I spend my money wherever I wish.

Nope. I spend my money wherever I wish.
Seconded.

Nope. I spend my money wherever I wish.

Same.

I don't really buy into brand names much, but then again, all I buy these days are groceries, CDs, DVDs and action figures.

I was having a discussion at work earlier today about this and just wandered if anybody boycotts and particular products/companies for political or ethical reasons.

I personally do not buy vegetables etc if I notice they were grown in Israel as it may well have been grown on illegally occupied Palestinian land.

Anybody make any similar boycots?

I should follow your lead and do like you, but if the big nosed sell their carrots cheaper then the next man, the jews get my cash :p

I buy as little stuff from sportswear brands as possible. Shoes is about it.

I keep PETA's (http://www.peta.org) cruelty-free shopping guide (http://www.peta.org/living/altorders.asp) in my purse. I don't buy anything that I know was tested on animals, or had it's ingredients tested on animals.
I also try to buy local produce (you can buy apples from New Zealand here... :confused: ) and stuff made in Canada. It's supporting local industry, but more importantly, decreasing the distance that merchandise travels before it gets to me. Better for the environment. :)

If it's on sale and it's NOT Nike, ADIDAS or anything like that... (also including Coke)

I'm NO LOGO.

And I am very selective about what food I buy. No wine from Chile (even though I love it, too many of the vineyards spray workers along with the vines with pesticides), no Dole bananas... I buy locally as much as possible.

Nope. I spend my money wherever I wish.
Yep.

Sort of. I try not to buy stuff from Walmart or other stores that stamp out competition and buy from smaller independent stores when possible, but it's damn near impossible not to buy stuff made in countries where workers are exploited and human rights are trampled because that's where almost every item is manufactured today.

I'm NO LOGO.

And I am very selective about what food I buy. No wine from Chile (even though I love it, too many of the vineyards spray workers along with the vines with pesticides), no Dole bananas... I buy locally as much as possible.
Did you read the Naomi Klein book?

I buy as little stuff from sportswear brands as possible. Shoes is about it.BLACKSPOTS!!! (http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotsneaker/home.html) Coolest shoes ever. Buy from the anti-corporation and become a share-holder.
Then you can go out and kick Phil's ass!
yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you read the Naomi Klein book?
Yup. And I lust after her man, Avi Lewis *sigh*.

Nope. I spend my money wherever I wish.You spend your money where you are told to want to spend it. Don't give in to the monster of consumerism!
www.adbusters.org

Plus I'm way more into making my own t-shirts lately. I've been silk-screening like crazy this summer!

You spend your money where you are told to want to spend it. Don't give in to the monster of consumerism!
www.adbusters.org

No, I spend where I want to, and I seldom spend any money on myself, outside of absolute neccessities. I'm hardly a follower of consumerism/materialism. I don't give into the name brand crap, but I also don't boycott things. And I know about Adbusters, a friend of mine's worked with it for ages.

Chocolate is mostly harvested by children, under horrible conditions. Coffee plantations can be really horrible for the environment, if they are not run in a sustainable fashion.
Fair-trade everything, just to be safe.

And if you want some beautiful, quality fairly traded goods, check out One Village ( http://www.onevillage.org/).

And if you want some beautiful, quality fairly traded goods, check out One Village ( http://www.onevillage.org/).That's awsome. I've never seen that before. Thanks for the link.
A Ten Thousand Villages (http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/) recently opened up in my town.
yay!

You spend your money where you are told to want to spend it. Don't give in to the monster of consumerism!
www.adbusters.org
Have you ever seen John Carpenter's "They Live"? I think it would be a very 'you' film :p

Also, I'm caught in a bind - young, penniless student living off a student loan of £3000pa plus earnings plus handouts. I'd like to boycott certain brands and buy all fair trade type stuff, but when a fair trade chocolate bar is 50pence from my local supermarket...

That's awsome. I've never seen that before. Thanks for the link.
A Ten Thousand Villages (http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/) recently opened up in my town.
yay!
I used to volunteer for them years ago...(for those who don't know, it's a Mennonite run fair trade shop, where most of the staff are volunteers to cut down on mark-up). It got too expensive though...being around that great stuff all day made my pockets burn...

Also, I'm caught in a bind - young, penniless student living off a student loan of £3000pa plus earnings plus handouts. I'd like to boycott certain brands and buy all fair trade type stuff, but when a fair trade chocolate bar is 50pence from my local supermarket...
I understand. When I was a poor student, I couldn't be very picky either. Even though I wanted to. But hell, just by being poor I ended up avoiding brands anyway:) Now that I have a bit more money, I spend it on high quality and ethical goods. When I bother buying anything other than food anymore!

I boycott certain things, but mostly I try to buy local and organic where I can. I've switched a lot of detergents in my house to more 'child-friendly' versions and I try to not buy much stuff from big chain stores like Wal-Mart. Target has some tempting stuff, but for things I can't get around here there's www.novica.com. I love that place. I've gotten lot's of gifts for people there.

I do what I can, but being on a rather small fixed income makes it difficult to pay extra to shop ethically. But I haven't set foot in a Wendys or Cracker Barrell because of their past anti gay policys.

More links y'all! I've already bookmarked a few for perusal later. I'm trying to get my forum posting in while both the children are sleeping. Some planets must have aligned somewhere for that to happen!

I do not concern myself with ethical buying the way you describe it. I do make an effort to shop locally - small businesses have it tough here, so I'll pay extra to help them out. And given a choice I'll buy 'made in America' even if it costs more.

That's ethical buying too, just my definition of ethics. Personal choices.

I do not concern myself with ethical buying the way you describe it. I do make an effort to shop locally - small businesses have it tough here, so I'll pay extra to help them out. And given a choice I'll buy 'made in America' even if it costs more.

That's ethical buying too, just my definition of ethics. Personal choices.Yes it is ethical.

But be careful about the 'made in America' label. Sometimes the label is the ONLY thing made in America.

Yes it is ethical.

But be careful about the 'made in America' label. Sometimes the label is the ONLY thing made in America.

You are correct, and that really pisses me off. I could use more truth in advertising, it's one of my peeves, and I don't see where we should have to tolerate that dishonesty. The lack of definition of what is "handmade" really discriminates against artisans who make the real thing.

Have you ever seen John Carpenter's "They Live"? I think it would be a very 'you' film :p

Also, I'm caught in a bind - young, penniless student living off a student loan of £3000pa plus earnings plus handouts. I'd like to boycott certain brands and buy all fair trade type stuff, but when a fair trade chocolate bar is 50pence from my local supermarket...Where might I find "They Live"?
If you do your research, you can make sure that children aren't harvesting your cocoa and pesticides aren't being sprayed on your fruit without paying a fortune.
You can call the manufacturer of anything, usually through a toll-free number on the packaging, and inquire as to their ingredient suppliers, corporate policies etc. You can also usually find a corporate website and do a little digging to find out this sort of information.
Sounds like a lot of work... and it is, at first. If you can find a brand of chocolate bar that uses cocoa from a country that has reasonable labour practises (the Cote d'Ivoire is one of the worst), you only have to do the research once. I buy my cosmetics from brands that I already know do not test on animals, for example (revlon is as cheap as you'll find, but cruelty-free). I know which brands of fruit happen to be pesticide free and trust that anything that comes from within my own country was harvested by adults who were paid fair wages.
If you can't afford to shop as ethically as you would like, that's cool too. I'm on a budget too (poor students of the world, unite! :) ), so I know all about that. What I do, is if I can't vote with my dollars, I vote with my voice. Call companies that you must buy from but wish you didn't have to, and complain. The company that you wish you didn't have to buy from could very well turn into the kind of company that you would be proud to support.

I do what I can, but being on a rather small fixed income makes it difficult to pay extra to shop ethically. But I haven't set foot in a Wendys or Cracker Barrell because of their past anti gay policys. :eek: but, but...
Wendy's is my only source of fast-food vegetarian fries.... :(

Yes I shop ethically where possible.

I boycott Nestle obviously - if you don't know why you really should have a look at some of their practices, if you have a heart it will make you cry. www.babymilkaction.org

I follow the PETA list pretty much to the letter, so no KFC (Unlucky Fried Chicken), no Unilever or its subsiduaries (v hard as they own everything), no GSK (and they own everything that Unilever don't!) the list is so long I won't even try to include it all here. I go for Sainsbury's, Boots and Virgin Vie household and cosmetic products because their animal testing policies are pretty much ok, or as close as you can get these days.

I won't buy anything "Made in China", I boycott Gap, Nike and all their ilk.

Only fair trade or locally produced fruit and veg. Fair trade chocolate, coffee and tea ONLY.

I boycott Esso of course and I display anti-Esso stickers in my car and home windows and am an active member of the stopesso campaign.

My husband is anti-microsoft, so we have mostly open source software on our computers.

Oh I could go on and on! I'll stop now.

Froudland, my hubby is also anti-Micro$oft...he's a devoted Linux follower. I just wish people would make fun computer games that don't require a Windows platform :( Then I could join him in open source land.

Also, Micro$oft almost became anti-gay...the leader of a very prominent church here is a raving homophobe and was going to try to get his congregation to boycott Micro$oft on the basis of their donations to a gay rights charity. There was such a huge outpouring of anger over this, they went ahead and donated anyway.

Where might I find "They Live"?
If you do your research, you can make sure that children aren't harvesting your cocoa and pesticides aren't being sprayed on your fruit without paying a fortune.
You can call the manufacturer of anything, usually through a toll-free number on the packaging, and inquire as to their ingredient suppliers, corporate policies etc. You can also usually find a corporate website and do a little digging to find out this sort of information.
Sounds like a lot of work... and it is, at first. If you can find a brand of chocolate bar that uses cocoa from a country that has reasonable labour practises (the Cote d'Ivoire is one of the worst), you only have to do the research once. I buy my cosmetics from brands that I already know do not test on animals, for example (revlon is as cheap as you'll find, but cruelty-free). I know which brands of fruit happen to be pesticide free and trust that anything that comes from within my own country was harvested by adults who were paid fair wages.
If you can't afford to shop as ethically as you would like, that's cool too. I'm on a budget too (poor students of the world, unite! :) ), so I know all about that. What I do, is if I can't vote with my dollars, I vote with my voice. Call companies that you must buy from but wish you didn't have to, and complain. The company that you wish you didn't have to buy from could very well turn into the kind of company that you would be proud to support.
Sorry about the 'They Live' thing - it isn't against shoddy corporate practice, but the idea that we buy brands because we are almost forced to (comment on a previous remark of yours, no harm intended).

I have, in the past, bought products that have the fair trade symbol on them. I try to boycott Nestlé products and avoid products such as battery chickens, but as far as clothes are concerned the major places known for poor corporate practice (Nike, Gap) are places from which I do not buy.

Yes I shop ethically where possible.

I boycott Nestle obviously - if you don't know why you really should have a look at some of their practices, if you have a heart it will make you cry. www.babymilkaction.org

I follow the PETA list pretty much to the letter, so no KFC (Unlucky Fried Chicken), no Unilever or its subsiduaries (v hard as they own everything), no GSK (and they own everything that Unilever don't!) the list is so long I won't even try to include it all here. I go for Sainsbury's, Boots and Virgin Vie household and cosmetic products because their animal testing policies are pretty much ok, or as close as you can get these days.

I won't buy anything "Made in China", I boycott Gap, Nike and all their ilk.

Only fair trade or locally produced fruit and veg. Fair trade chocolate, coffee and tea ONLY.

I boycott Esso of course and I display anti-Esso stickers in my car and home windows and am an active member of the stopesso campaign.

My husband is anti-microsoft, so we have mostly open source software on our computers.

Oh I could go on and on! I'll stop now.Thanks for the heads up about Nestle. I'm already a vegan, and support breast feeding, but i do put the strawberry syrup in water... sooooo good.
I'll bring some back from france next time I go. Untill then...
Unless anyone else knows of flavoured syrups for water available in N America (mint, berries, lemon etc)?

Sorry about the 'They Live' thing - it isn't against shoddy corporate practice, but the idea that we buy brands because we are almost forced to (comment on a previous remark of yours, no harm intended).

I have, in the past, bought products that have the fair trade symbol on them. I try to boycott Nestlé products and avoid products such as battery chickens, but as far as clothes are concerned the major places known for poor corporate practice (Nike, Gap) are places from which I do not buy.Huh?
Why are you sorry???
I'm confused!!!!!!!!!!
It's all good, I'm used to being confused. :p
Where can I find it, though?

I was having a discussion at work earlier today about this and just wandered if anybody boycotts and particular products/companies for political or ethical reasons.

I personally do not buy vegetables etc if I notice they were grown in Israel as it may well have been grown on illegally occupied Palestinian land.

Anybody make any similar boycots?
Actually, if you were serious in your boycotting of Israel, you most likely wouldn't be here to post about it. Your computer is most likely overloaded with software and hardware designed in Israel (AOL instant messenger, for example, firewalls, some data storage computer formats, Pentium MMX computer chips. Who knows, you might even be using Windows NT, designed by the Israeli branch of Microsoft).

You might also want to throw your mobile phone away, its another piece of Zionist technology (invented by Motorola Israel).

Oh and trust me, if you are REALLY out to boycott Israeli products, you better never get sick, 'cause Israeli influence on the world medical technology is VERY pervasive ;)

I try to buy Australian products where I can. Also, I prefer not to shop/eat at chain stores/franchises. Eg, I'll choose a local cafe over Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. I also avoid Nestle products, because they have some very dodgy third world policies & practices.

Actually, if you were serious in your boycotting of Israel, you most likely wouldn't be here to post about it. Your computer is most likely overloaded with software and hardware designed in Israel (AOL instant messenger, for example, firewalls, some data storage computer formats, Pentium MMX computer chips. Who knows, you might even be using Windows NT, designed by the Israeli branch of Microsoft).

You might also want to throw your mobile phone away, its another piece of Zionist technology (invented by Motorola Israel).

Oh and trust me, if you are REALLY out to boycott Israeli products, you better never get sick, 'cause Israeli influence on the world medical technology is VERY pervasive ;)
My computer is an Apple, I don't have AOL - it's doesn't have a very big foothold in Sweden at all - no one I know uses it, and as my computer is Apple it's not running Windows.

My mobile phone is made by Nokia next door in Finland.

Anyway, I doubt that the Israeli branch of Microsoft are either developing software or growing crops on Palestian territory, this you will read is my reason for boycotting their agricultural produce. So actually, I wouldn't boycott Israeli technology so long as it is developed ethically and in Israeli territory.

I am not against Israel per se, merely very much against its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

I try to buy Australian products where I can. Also, I prefer not to shop/eat at chain stores/franchises. Eg, I'll choose a local cafe over Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. I also avoid Nestle products, because they have some very dodgy third world policies & practices.

When abroad I don't use Starbucks either, I read an article with some very nasty facts about their lack of fair trade policies. Luckily we don't have them in Sweden yet (well, I've never seen one).

I avoid McDonalds also, but that's mainly down to the fact that I think their food is inedible. Disgusting. Tastes like cardboard.

I don't boycott large corporations simply because they are large and succesful, I'm happy for them. Any company that can succeed through pure capitalism deserves my business.

I do boycott Wal-Mart and any other socialist company that takes government handouts, whether it's a huge chain store, or ma and pa's general store.

I try to buy as many things made by children as I can get ahold of. I find their small delicate hands make the tightest, most superb stitches to be found. Plus the work their doing teaches them character.

Also, I feel much safer knowing a product I buy will not make me blind, because the developers worked out all the "kinks" with Fluffy the Rabbit first.

I have a general rule also about food. Each food item must contain at least two distinct Genus, and two individual species from each. I find however, that once one starts mixing different phylum in the same dish, it loses it's appeal.