Will Boycotts Change Anything?

The post Will Boycotts Change Anything? appeared first on WhoWhatWhy.

Are consumer boycotts just attention-grabbing political theater? Or can ordinary people voting with their wallets have a lasting impact on society at large?

On the evening of January 28, 2017 freelance writer Dan O’Sullivan took to Twitter to protest the actions of ride-sharing service Uber. Under the hashtag #deleteUber, he accused Uber of trying to “profit off of refugees” after local taxi drivers had halted service to and from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport in solidarity with people affected by President Trump’s so-called Muslim ban on air travel throughout the US.

What prompted O’Sullivan’s tweet was Uber’s decision to suspend “surge pricing” near JFK, which was seen as a signal to its drivers to pick up airport fares temporarily stranded by the absence of taxis.

Within hours, O’Sullivan’s tweet went viral. Uber users, angry at what they saw as the corporation’s attempt to undercut the taxi drivers’ anti-Trump work stoppage, hashtagged and retweeted. Estimates suggest Uber may have lost 200,000 users.

Whether designed as such or not, #deleteUber became a nationwide boycott. The outpouring of support for #deleteUber followed months of demands from Uber drivers for workplace protections such as overtime pay and minimum-wage guarantees.

Those specific demands from Uber drivers have yet to be met. But six days later Uber CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down from his position as an economic adviser on President Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum. So the Uber boycott apparently forced a major corporation to minimize its public ties to an unpopular president.

Boycotts of one kind or another have a long history. The word itself goes back to 1880, when workers and tradespeople in County Mayo, Ireland, united to shun and shame a land agent named Capt. Charles Boycott, who was evicting tenants from their homes.

The use of economic and social pressure to achieve political ends has proliferated in the era of hashtag activism. Frustrated by blocked political channels, individuals and organizations are exploring how to effect change through the market.  

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