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There's a grass-roots "economic blackout" that's brewed up for today, February 28. The idea of this one-day, buy-nothing day is to protest major corporations renouncing their DEI—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—initiatives after Trump's election. That's how promoters of the event describe it, anyway. I'm not going to participate.
Understand that my objection here is not to the goals of this protest. I am sickened by MAGA politics and its destructive tactics, as well as by the widespread capitulation of American businesses and business leaders to its racist, sexist, and antidemocratic goals. It's terrible what that side is doing. But this protest won't change any of that. Here are Five Things why:
As a postscript, I see some people saying that the real value of this one-day boycott is not the ineffectual economic impact but showing people there is power in unity. I understand that point. I'd like to believe it's true. I'd like to believe because there's also an argument that it could go the other way. What if in addition to accomplishing zero, economically, it gives its participants a false sense of accomplishment? That would frankly make it worse than useless as those people whose efforts could otherwise be harnessed for something actually useful will proudly string up their "Mission Accomplished" banners, pat themselves on the back for having Done Something, and return to the status quo.
Understand that my objection here is not to the goals of this protest. I am sickened by MAGA politics and its destructive tactics, as well as by the widespread capitulation of American businesses and business leaders to its racist, sexist, and antidemocratic goals. It's terrible what that side is doing. But this protest won't change any of that. Here are Five Things why:
- "Buy nothing this one day" protests have almost zero economic impact because consumers just shift their buying to the days before and after the protest. I've seen a few protests like this in past years against Big Oil. Organizers rallied people not to buy gas for their cars on one specific day. Well, people just filled up their cars the day before or the day after. Economic activity across the span of a week was virtually unchanged.
- Within the context of which businesses might be hurt by one day of reduced business, even if balanced on either side by other days of increased business, a lot of what's impacted are small, local businesses. Many of those stores with big brand names on the sign are franchised. They're owned and operated by a small, local or regional business, not the national/global megacorp that owns the brand name. So a lot of who you're hurting is a small businessperson in your community, not the decision-makers in the corporate boardroom.
- If you want to demonstrate to big corporations "the power of the purse" you need to make an enduring change to your buying habits. Anti-DEI leaders understood this when they organized a boycott against Bud Light in 2023 over its sponsorship of a single trans person among many other influencers it sponsored. Protesters didn't just stage a "Buy no Bud Light for a day" boycott. They stopped buying Bud Light indefinitely. Bud Light sales dropped around 20% after a month, the brand lost its #1 spot in the market, and maker Anheuser Busch lost shelf space to competitors as a result. Companies are capitulating to anti-DEI because they see proven ability to cause long-term harm to their businesses.
- Successful boycotts don't just make businesses pay attention; they make politicians pay attention. But the MAGA politicians have already made clear that they don't care. MAGA leaders have inoculated themselves by admitting there will be "pain" as their changes are implemented. And this week we see MAGA Congresspeople canceling town halls rather than face angry constituents. They don't yet care their voters are unhappy; they're still more afraid of crossing Donald Trump.
- We're going to have to win this fight at the ballot box, not the cash register. And it's going to take a while. ...Not only because the next federal election isn't for another 20 months but because we have to get the MAGA politicians to pay attention to voters. Right now they don't care that voters are unhappy; they're still more afraid of Donald Trump organizing far-right challengers against them in the next primary. We've got to build and sustain popular pressure against these politicians. We've got to make them more afraid of losing a general election to the center-left than losing a primary to the far right.
As a postscript, I see some people saying that the real value of this one-day boycott is not the ineffectual economic impact but showing people there is power in unity. I understand that point. I'd like to believe it's true. I'd like to believe because there's also an argument that it could go the other way. What if in addition to accomplishing zero, economically, it gives its participants a false sense of accomplishment? That would frankly make it worse than useless as those people whose efforts could otherwise be harnessed for something actually useful will proudly string up their "Mission Accomplished" banners, pat themselves on the back for having Done Something, and return to the status quo.
