Boycotting Companies ~ why?

Many years ago, a new convenience store was built in our area. Our church encouraged the members to boycott the store because they were selling Playboy magazines.  At the time, I remember thinking that that seemed reasonable – and maybe they would get the message and stop selling them. 

Now, years later, I can’t imagine my life without these ===>  You might say that Ashley and I have an addiction to them.  We buy gas at Sheetz quite frequently because it’s the cheapest around.  Their made-to-order foods are yummy.  And, I never look at the magazines.  I have no clue if the boycotting worked or not. 

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The other day, I posted about a disappointment that I had experienced with Thirty-One (which has, for the record, since been remedied).  I had a commenter who mentioned having heard that Thirty-One supports Planned Parenthood.  I remember when this “news” first hit the internet – lots of people on Facebook were up in arms about it, and stated that they would no longer order from Thirty-One because of it.

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Now, I could do a lot of research and come up with examples and exact details about similar situations I recall in the past, but I’m not willing to take the time.  I do recall a time when people were suggesting boycotting Johnson & Johnson.  Now, I don’t know about you, but they supply me with a lot of my health & beauty aids (things I’d prefer not to live without – like toothpaste!)  It sticks in my head that a certain food manufacturer (was it Kraft?) was being boycotted for awhile.  Now, I won’t go into details but suffice it to say that, indirectly, Kraft is responsible for helping my husband to receive a paycheck – so I won’t be boycotting them.  And, my beloved Disney – yes, there have been people who have boycotted Disney (and still do) for whatever reason.

Thing is, if we boycotted EVERY SINGLE COMPANY that we didn’t agree with 100%, we’d have to learn VERY QUICKLY to become entirely self-sufficient.  I live in town, on a small plot of land.  I don’t have the room to have a cow (and my son goes through a LOT of milk).  Our garden has gotten so much rain early on that it will yield very little this year (so I’m going to have to purchase some produce).  While I have made my own laundry soap in the past, I do not have the time, energy, or knowledge to make all the soap products that my family uses on any given day (think shampoo, dish soap, etc.)  And, quite frankly, there are times when convenience foods are nice to have around. 

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So, back to Thirty-One.  If you thought that they were supporting Planned Parenthood and chose to boycott them, you might want to do a bit of research.  Here are links to two documents that you might find interesting:

http://assets.thirtyonetoday.com/toolbox/summer2012/Gives%20Donation%20Summary.pdf

http://assets.thirtyonetoday.com/toolbox/summer2012/Gives%20Partner%20Summary.pdf

Also, if you really don’t want a percentage of your purchase to go to the organizations that Thirty-One does support, that’s easy!  Just don’t order from that select line of product.

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I’m not posting all of this because I stand in total support to Thirty-One or any other company out there. I just think it’s very important for us to choose our battles -  whether they be political in nature, or more personal.  I see so many people that I would consider to be “bandwagon jumpers” – they just willingly jump on whatever the latest bandwagon happens to be, without doing the least bit of research to find out if it’s really true or not. 

So, I urge you as consumers – don’t just jump when you hear something about a company (or even about a person).  Do your research.  Ask questions.  Get to the bottom of it.  In my opinion, bandwagon jumping is right up there with gossip.  If you don’t know the facts and aren’t willing to do the work to get them, then it would definitely be better to remain neutral (and quiet).

(This was one of those blog posts that is not necessarily fun to write – but I believe it’s important.  So there!  Take it or leave it.)