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chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0511130375nov13,1,6227923.story?coll=chi-news-hed
BOYCOTTING OR BLOWING HOT AIR?
The Internet makes it easier for individuals, groups to launch a campaign against companies
By Bonnie Miller Rubin
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 13, 2005
Don’t like something? Boycott it.
In recent weeks, the American Girl doll stores, teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and an entire country–Aruba–found themselves on do-not-shop lists.
They became targets of a political and social weapon that is easier to employ in the age of instant communications, one which can induce frustration or even panic in corporate boardrooms. Though sometimes, depending on the personality of the company, a boycott can result in a publicity bonanza.
In the past year, Walgreens, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s stores and Disney have incurred the high-profile wrath of the left, the right and sometimes both at the same time.
Monroe Friedman, a professor emeritus at Eastern Michigan University who has studied boycotts for 35 years, said it is difficult to quantify whether the strategy has gained or lost effectiveness in an era he describes as “the boycott of the week.”
BOYCOTTING OR BLOWING HOT AIR?
The Internet makes it easier for individuals, groups to launch a campaign against companies
By Bonnie Miller Rubin
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 13, 2005
Don’t like something? Boycott it.
In recent weeks, the American Girl doll stores, teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and an entire country–Aruba–found themselves on do-not-shop lists.
They became targets of a political and social weapon that is easier to employ in the age of instant communications, one which can induce frustration or even panic in corporate boardrooms. Though sometimes, depending on the personality of the company, a boycott can result in a publicity bonanza.
In the past year, Walgreens, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s stores and Disney have incurred the high-profile wrath of the left, the right and sometimes both at the same time.
Monroe Friedman, a professor emeritus at Eastern Michigan University who has studied boycotts for 35 years, said it is difficult to quantify whether the strategy has gained or lost effectiveness in an era he describes as “the boycott of the week.”