EthicalConsumer.org is an online magazine concerning ethical consumer choice.
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A boycott is normally called by an organisation or group of individuals, asking consumers not to buy a specific product, or the products of a specific company, in order to exert commercial pressure. This is usually done to get the company to change its behaviour - to cease an activity or to adopt a more ethical practice.
Companies are sensitive to boycotts because they can have serious financial implications. In the case of a boycott of Barclays Bank for its involvement in South Africa during the time of Apartheid, Barclays' share of the student market dropped from 27% to 15% by the time it had pulled out. Boycotts may also affect a company's image. Supermarkets are especially sensitive about this - a fact not lost on Viva! which has had numerous successes in getting supermarkets to stop stocking cruelly-produced meat products such as kangaroo and debeaked duck. EC has published some in-depth analyses of the success of UK boycotts in previous issues. (See issues 11, 39 and 50.)
Sometimes a company can become a boycott target simply because it's big (and there is a questionable industry-wide practice) or just because it is vulnerable to consumer pressure. French wine producers were targeted in this way by groups opposing the French government's nuclear tests in the Pacific. However, companies can usually avoid becoming a formal boycott target by anticipating social trends and/or by not being left behind by competitors. A responsible company should be able to achieve this by being aware of the consequences of its decisions, not just financially, but for people, the environment and animals.
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