Why organized boycotts don't work: Part II

Last week I posted a blog on organized boycotts and why they don’t really work.

For those of you who missed Part I of this blog I will recap my assertion that for a public, organized boycott to be successful it must have not only widespread participation but also a real reduction in demand for the product or service being offered by the person or company being boycotted.

Last week I took a look at what I call the one day boycott. This week I take a look at a second type of boycott (and my favorite to make fun of)...

The political/philosophical disagreement boycott.

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