Recently, everyone has been talking about the war between Israel and Palestine. People have started boycotting giant corporations like MAC, Estée Lauder, Google, and Amazon- with Starbucks currently in the spotlight. With all the media pressure, how successful is boycotting? Is it beneficial?
“Starbucks, Starbucks, you can’t hide; you make drinks for genocide!” was one of the chants that could be heard from people protesting around the Starbucks locations in Washington, DC. Protesters gathered after Sara Kelly, the executive vice president and chief partner officer for Starbucks, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Starbucks Workers United members on X (formerly Twitter). The union had uploaded a reply to a post by Hussein @EyesOnSouth1 on X with a picture of a bulldozer operated by Gaza tearing down the Israeli fence erected on the border, captioned “Solidarity with Palestine!”
According to boycotters, Starbucks CEO and largest private shareholder, Howard Shultz has expressed Zionist views and has funded the Israeli military with profit from the company.
Although boycotting seems like an effective and peaceful way to help Palestinian civilians, is it helpful? Well, yes and no. In my opinion, boycotting doesn’t sound like a serious method, as it is more like cherry-picking and just targets specific goods and companies. Boycotting a country is not something easily done, as said. Remember, this is not just Starbucks, it is companies that are all around you every day. Do you want to boycott? Do you happen to have an iPhone? Throw it away. Do you shop at H&M? Well, you’re going to have to give that up too! Did you just use Google to get here? Boy, do I have news for you.
This seems to remind me of the deaths of George Floyd, celebrities, and companies. Day to day, citizens all changed their profile pictures to BLM across all of their platforms. Every post is tagged #BLM. How long did that last before everyone just decided not to care anymore? People of color are still dying to this day due to police brutality, yet you don’t seem to be posting yourself crying on the internet anymore. Do you notice the patterns? Actions like this are all coming from trends. Unfortunately, people do not have the energy to pull through such large changes in their lives, especially if they don’t see any quick results from them. As for stores shutting down, Allegedly, I saw two stores close down. That’s less than the normal amount Starbucks closes per year due to underwhelming numbers in the financial category. It is not enough.
In my personal opinion, these current events seem to remind me of the deaths of George Floyd, celebrities, and companies. Day to day, citizens changed their profile pictures to BLM across all of their platforms. Every post was tagged #BLM. How long did that last before people moved on? Statistically, people of color still die from police brutality to this day, yet people don’t seem to be posting themselves crying on the internet anymore. Do you notice the patterns? Performative actions that come from trends eventually fade out and are forgotten. Unfortunately, some people do not have the energy to commit to such changes in their lives, especially if they don’t see quick results. As for stores shutting down, 7 have been shut down in San Francisco, 61 in total this year- and no longer serve any coffee in Morocco.
I understand that many people feel lost in a situation like this. Everyone who has a heart cares; how could you not? These are innocent people! So I completely understand why people are desperately looking for ways to help, as the only thing citizens across the world can do is boycott companies.
Of course, boycotting companies work. It’s common sense; it just takes a lot of effort and correct execution.
The real question is, how many people are willing to commit to long-term boycotts for long-term change? And will this just be another trend that dies out? Only time will tell, but it currently appears that protestors are not backing down anytime soon.
And I write this to try and truly help all of you, so here are some reasons why boycotting will probably not work if not seriously pushed through with. “Brands we are boycotting are full of deals because they are rough on money.” I do not see any drastic deals anywhere right now, but even if you do happen to see them, we are currently at the end of the year when there are multiple holidays like Halloween and Black Friday. Thanksgiving, Monday, Christmas—ever since the start, there have always been deals around this time due to the holidays.
