Why organized boycotts don't work: Part I

The Wikipedia entry defines a boycott as “an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.” And if the boycott is simply a means of personal expression I believe the boycott works.

There are some products that I just don’t use or companies that I just won’t do business with simply because it is important to me not to support them with my wallet. I believe this to be a success not because I have force a change in the policy of the person or organization but because I have eliminated them from my sphere. But public, organized boycotts are different.

A public, organized boycott seeks to force change onto a person or business by the use of economic forces, specifically the use of reduced demand. But for such an action to be successful the boycott must have two components: 1) widespread adoption 2) actual reduction of demand for the product or service offered by the offending person or business.

In this first post I will take a look at one type of public, organized boycott and explain why I don’t think it works. First up…

The One Day Boycott

You know which ones I am talking about.

You get an email or a Facebook message asking you to not buy gas on a certain day in protest of high gas prices and to send a message to those mean old oil companies that we have had enough of them getting rich off us (I will reserve my comments regarding the “rich” oil companies for now).

It would seem that this type of boycott would be effective. Right?

I mean, seriously. If I don’t fill up that day then that is like $50 worth of gas that does not get bought, Right?

And if more people join in that dollar amount just get bigger and bigger. Right?

But let us remember the two parts needed for a successful boycott.

Even with the use of modern social media technology the number of people participating is low compared to the total number of drivers in the country.

In 2000 there were over 190 million licensed drivers in the United States. That means that for a boycott to involve even a paltry 1% of the total drivers there would have to be 1.9 MILLION participants committed to the boycott.

But let us for one moment pretend that the unlikely happens and all 190+ million drivers in the United States of America decide to participate in the boycott, there is still another major problem.

When people participate in this type of boycott they do not usually reduce the amount of gas they use/purchase, they simply change the day they buy it.

Participants agree to not buy gas on Thursday but if they instead fill up the tank on Wednesday or wait until Friday to make their purchase they only change when they apply their demand for the gas and don’t actually reduce the demand.

The only way this type of boycott would even begin to have an effect would be if you could get a large number of people to not only participate in the boycott but also not only refuse to buy gas that day but also refuse to USE ANY gas that day.

The participants would even have to avoid using public transportation if the transportation was by gas powered vehicles like buses because though less gasoline would be used the increase in public transportation would still consume fuel that would have to be purchased at some point.

The one day organized boycott does not work because it lacks not only wide spread adoption but also the actual reduction of demand, which would be necessary to convince the person or company to make a policy change.

So, the next time you are asked to participate in a one day boycott of gas I urge you to instead point your energy toward something that might actually help reduce what you pay at the pump.

My suggestion, start with the government. In Florida, taxes account for at least $0.45 for every gallon of gas.