Consumer Group’s ‘Economic Blackout’ Targeted Nestle; General Mills Is Next
Somewhat quietly, a group called the People’s Union USA has been encouraging consumers to stop buying products at certain stores or from certain brands in scheduled efforts to address perceived financial, societal or environmental wrongs. It happened to Nestle in February; General Mills is next.
Calling their actions boycotts or economic blackouts, the People's Union’s weeklong action against Walmart and its related businesses just ended April 14. Participants were encouraged, “No shopping. No spending. No fueling the beast. Only support independent small businesses if you truly need something. Otherwise, lock it down.”
The reason was this “mega-corporation … has swallowed up local economies, crushed small businesses, underpaid their employees and helped fund the same political machine that keeps us all stuck.”
Led by founder John Schwarz, who openly admits on the website his childhood home life “was abusive and unstable,” the group calls itself “a grassroots movement focused on economic resistance, corporate accountability and real justice for the working class.”
How do people participate in a boycott or economic blackout? “It’s simple. Stop spending,” the website says.
There are different reasons for different targets. A Nestle boycott March 21-28 accused the Swiss company “of exploiting child labor, pumping out toxic water in communities, overcharging consumers for what the planet provides for free and controlling a massive portion of the global food supply.”
That came a week after a boycott of Amazon. McDonald’s is coming up in June.
General Mills gets the boycott treatment April 21-28, although we could find no justification or grievances against the company on the group’s website. We also could find no measure of participation or success of the past boycotts.
We asked spokespeople for Nestle and General Mills for comment, and we’ll add them to this story as soon as we get them.
