This post is somewhat inspired by a recent post in this same community called “Is anyone else having trouble giving up Reddit due to content?”
I imagine “Reddit” will be a common answer. (And it’s one of my answers.)
Another of my answers is “Hasbro.” First Wizards of the Coast (a Hasbro subsidiary) tried to revoke an irrevokable license and screw over basically all 3rd-party publishers of D&D content, then they sent literal mercinaries to threaten one of their customers over an order mixup that wasn’t even the customer’s fault. D&D: Honor Among Thieves and the latest Transformers look really good, but those are within the scope of my boycott, so I won’t be seeing those any time soon.
Third, Microsoft. (Apple too, but then I’ve never bought any Apple devices in my life, so it hardly qualifies as a boycott.) Just because of their penchant for using devices I own against me in every way they can imagine. And for really predatory business practices.
One boycott that I’ve ended was a boycott of Nintendo. I was pissed that they started marketing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (though it didn’t have a name at the time) before the WiiU came out, prompting me to be an early adopter of the WiiU, and then when they actually released BotW, they dual-released it on WiiU and Switch. I slightly eased my boycott when the unpatchable Fusee Gilee vulnerability for the first batch of Switches was discovered. I wanted to get one of the ones I could hack and run homebrew on before they came out with a model that lacked the vulnerability.
Nestle. Boycotting for years.
It made me sad that a ice cream I liked was part of nestle.
I’ll miss hot pockets, good to know about Chameleon Cold Brew now though
Quick FYI to Europeans who want to boycott Nestlé: Häagen-Dazs is not owned by Nestlé in Europe.
For ice cream, try Tillamook if it’s in your grocery store! More affordable than Ben and Jerry’s and more cream than what’s legally mandated!
Made me really sad when I learned Sweet Earth is Nestlé because they have a really good Seitan (wheat gluten) Bacon that is super tasty and difficult to replicate. But I like not supporting scum more than I like vegan bacon substitutes so 🤷
At this point, what am I not boycotting? lol
I guess this is the abridged no-go list:
- Nestle (duh)
- BP (still haven’t forgiven them for lubricating the Gulf of Mexico and being like “oops, sorry”)
- Verizon (injecting tracking IDs into customer web traffic to sell to advertisers while also charging me $60/mo for 2 GB of data – I’m a product or a customer. I will not be both.)
- RWNJ-owned businesses (Chick-fil-A, In-n-Out, Hobby Lobby, Applebees, etc)
- AT&T (After so many years, I forget exactly why, but they’re just evil)
- The entire states of Florida and Texas
- The lottery (I’d have the same payout and more fun just setting the money on fire)
- Microsoft (It’s MY computer, not yours)
- Apple (Overpriced hardware, control-freak walled garden, everything needs a damn $29 dongle, etc)
- Reddit, Facebook, Twitter (also blocked in firewall)
- Amazon (except the 2-3 times a year they give me a free month of Prime and I buy all my stuff, take the free 1-2 day shipping and cancel before they bill me)
Late additions:
- Exxon (knew about climate change for over 40 years; spent millions promoting misinformation/denialism)
- Bank of America (used to work there - will never bank there. Oh, you’re poor? There’s a fee for that - several, actually)
BP (still haven’t forgiven them for lubricating the Gulf of Mexico and being like “oops, sorry”)
Same. Started avoiding them after the disaster and never had the need to go back. I drive electric car now.
You should add Exxon to that list for Valdez.
Yeah, true. Forgot about that one. Also, they knew about climate change for over 40 years and still spent millions of dollars promoting denialism and misinformation in the name of profits.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/
My list is pretty similar to yours, with major exceptions that I include all the giant multinational oil companies (i.e., BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell - I get gas from Arco). I also substitute Google in place of Apple. I avoid Amazon like the plague, unless there is absolutely nowhere else I can buy something. I also have all the US mega banks on my list. Kroger’s grocery stores. Probably a few more things I can’t think of right now.
really? I like BoA - the tellers are friendly and I’ve never really had any issues with extra fees. been with them for over 20 years now
Chick-Fil-A for their support for organizations that are anti-LGBT. Apparently these donations have stopped but I’m stubborn.
I haven’t paid attention for a couple years, but the last time they “stopped” they just started donating to a charity they made to cover up that they are still donating to the same places. But they didn’t do it directly so it doesn’t count.
And the owners themselves are still donating to anti LGBT shit regardless, at least one of them has been funding an organization that has been assisting with putting out all these recent anti LGBT+ bills.
Bummer. It’s a shame because it really is some of the best fast food available.
Popeyes makes an amazing chicken sandwich! (Assuming that’s what you were getting from Chick-fil-A.) I might even enjoy it more than Chick-fil-A’s.
I honestly don’t understand this take… I’ve never found their food remarkable. Maybe it’s because I live in a big city, though.
It’s not worth the price, financially or morally.
CFL, Hobby Lobby, anyone who donates to anti LGBTQ I’m actively avoiding. It’s mid 2020s everyone, let it go already
I honestly don’t get their popularity. Not because of politics but I can honestly get a better chicken sandwich 5 min drive away.
it tastes good and it’s convenient - not all places have a wide variety of restaurants
The company never apologized for any of it, so why should any of us forgive them? Dan Cathy made a big speech defending the contributions of company profits to anti-lgbtq groups, including groups supporting conversion therapy, and proclaimed that gay people are an affront to God.
I don’t just not eat here, I actively judge the people that do. I’m not sorry. It’s not hard to avoid eating greasy chicken from a restaurant that has become a cultural monument to desperaging people for the way they were born.
nestle. man fuck nestle
Meat, as it’s carbon footprint is just too high.
And is a major cause of deforestation, biodiversity decline, antibiotic resistance, water pollution and water overuse, … And of course animal cruelty and abuse.
Kurzgesagt has a fantastic video on the matter, and the video has great peer-reviewed sources right in the description for whoever would need them.
https://youtu.be/F1Hq8eVOMHs?si=GLo73jt6gaA433Ii
I’ve heavily reduced my meat consumption after seing this video. I basically never eat meat in the meals I make only for myself. It’s not like I never eat meat, but since getting a bit more informed, I try to respect the occasional meat instead of expecting it several times a day.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/F1Hq8eVOMHs?si=GLo73jt6gaA433Ii
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Amazon. Fuck Amazon.
I’m boycotting everything from Nestlé, which can get difficult since that evil octopus of a company has so many goddamn tentacles!
As for boycotts I’ve ended, I used to boycott the Lotus brand of toilet paper and paper towels because they were made by a Koch Industries subsidiary but then they sold the brand off to a socially and environmentally conscious Swedish company so I started buying them again.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, TikTok. Most people I work with think I’m totally out of touch with reality because I don’t use any of the big social media platforms and then they watch the same 12 ads and 3 videos on 5 different apps.
It’s funny, I never thought of myself as boycotting these… But I guess I am. I hate all of these, and I think they are bad for both individuals, and society.
How do you boycott whatsapp? Do you just… not talk to people? What about work/studies/etc?
E-Mail/sms/irc covers 99% of my text needs.
The gas station down on the corner. When I first moved here, I went there all the time because it was convenient. Gas, bread, soda, you name it, I would swing through there and pick it up. I stopped every single work morning and got coffee on the way to work. I started bringing my own insulated cup, so they charged me less. Then it was bought by a new owner, and he wanted to charge me more. Okay, it was still cheaper than if I used their cup and more convenient than making it at home - they provide the coffee, sweetener, creamer, and there’s no clean up on my part. One day I went in with a new cup that was the same capacity as the old cup. A different shape, but it held the same number of ounces. The owner said, “that cup’s bigger, I charge you more.” I tried to argue, but he didn’t budge, and he charged me the same amount as a large coffee in their cup. Now, I’m not stupid, I’ve worked in retail before, I know the largest cost to a cup of coffee is the cup, but I paid it, walked out the door, and never set foot in there again. That’s been eleven years ago, and I don’t plan to go back. I hope the few cents he greedily wanted over coffee was worth all the other lost sales.
This is the level of pettiness I aspire to
I love that you’ve kept it up for so long!
My mother could carry a grudge like no one I’ve ever known, so I get it honest.
I used to boycott ATI before AMD bought them, because the driver support on Linux was so bad. I got a laptop with a GPU they didn’t support until almost a couple years later, and then as soon as it worked, they dropped support because it was too old.
Now they have the open source driver and better GPU support than Nvidia.
To be fair, ATI windows drivers were dogshit as well.
Nothing. I’ve given up.
I am too small to make a difference, unable to convince others in my life to join, and the companies I want to boycott have grown so big that their brands are everywhere and it’s exhausting to try to keep track of them all. Plus, boycotts are pretty ineffective these days. Even in the most extreme cases, companies now know they only have to wait ~2-3 months before the masses stop caring and move on to something else.
Now I just live my life. I support causes I believe in, try to treat everyone I meet with kindness and respect, and do what I can to give myself and my family a happy, comfortable life. That’s all I can do, it may not be enough to save the world, but it’s enough to save me and those I love
Facebook. Never had an account. In the early days I was afraid id lose job opportunities because something I’d post or others post with me in it, like smoking a bong or maybe just drunken 2am rant.
Now I don’t like it cuz it converts sweet old people into Nazis. Among everything else.
Apple - while their products are undeniably good quality on both HW and SW sides, I hate their business practices, overpriced products (monitor stand for $1k ?!?!?!?!), and being anti right to repair.
Epic Games - partially owned by Tencent (a money hungry Chinese company), PC exclusivity deals, anti consumerism
Elon Musk - nuff said
Andrej Babiš - a Czech politician who used to be in the communist party back in the day (and denies it), a millionaire, a liar, a thief, and in general piece of shit. I will never buy any products made by companies owned by him (sure, they are not “his” per-se, because they can’t legally be, but I am sure he still profits from them through money laundering).
Tik Tok - app by the Chinese, with tracking and information gathering throughout, and an ultimate time sink. Stupid trends start there, and it does absolutely nothing for the humanity.
Reddit - API fiasco, antagonistic, and predictable
Facebook - it’s crap
Instagram - popularity contest
WhatsApp - unnecessary
Snapchat - unnecessary
TikTok - Chinese spyware
Microsoft - bloat and privacy
Adobe - expensive and slow
Twitter/X - crap
Elon Musk news - annoying
Oil change places - rip off & untrustworthy
Tire places except for Costco - rip off
Toyota dealerships - shady and deceptive
Apple - expensive and limiting
Netflix - crap
Hulu - crap
Wendy’s - crap
KFC - crap
Bottled water - expensive and wasteful
Sodas - terrible for health
Papa Johns - treats employees like shit, crap politics, expensive
Panda Express - generic, local places are better
Pollo Tropical - generic, local places are better
Checking & savings banks - credit unions are much better for their customers
American cars - crap
BMW - for dickheads and too expensive
HOAs - waste of money, too controlling
Autism Speaks - more harmful than good
Susan G Komen - selfish litigators
Better Help - pays their clinicians shit, so you’re getting bottom of the barrel therapy
Boycotting In N Out for being anti-vax and more recently anti mask. Shame because their burgers are pretty good for the prices they charge.
