And also...

[ewt]

Pick a company that worries you and stop buying its products.

Tell all your friends to do the same. Tell them to tell their friends too.

If enough of you stop buying this product their sales will suddenly stop.

The shops - seeing that this product no longer sells, will stop stocking it.

The financial analysts who advise big investors will get to hear that something is up.

The big investors will sell their shares as soon as they hear that something is up.

The shares will drop as news of the big investors selling gets out.

Other shareholders seeing the drastic fall in share price, will sell fearing a collapse.

The shares fall even further on the news of more selling.

The newspapers report on the unexplained panic selling.

The shares fall even further.

The chairman of the company mankes a statement to the effect that people are over reacting and things will soon return to normal.

The board decide the chairman's calmness in the eye of the storm suggests he hasn't grasped the gravity of the situation.

The shares fall even further on the news of the sacking of the chairman.

You have brought the corporation to their knees.

CONSUMER = POWER

We don't think all big companies are bad. Nor do we think all small companies are good.But you have the power to change any company for the better. Including ours.

Reproduced from the Howies catalogue, a/w 2005.

Thanks to claire_wain for posting this one.

Some food for thought:

What purchases do you make that directly or indirectly support war? Are people's lives really worth the money you save, or the convenience you get, or whatever other reason it is that you make those purchases?

When I was young, my stepmum (or my dad? I don't remember who it belonged to) had a big poster with Smokey Bear on it, saying, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires."

Only you can stop the manufacture of land mines. Only you can support labour unions. Only you can stop your dependency on oil products. Only you can choose to use recycled paper products. Only you can buy locally. Only you can grow-your-own.

Every financial decision you make affects someone else. Only you can ensure everyone benefits when you buy something.

I go to rehearsal now, b'bye.

Comments

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Nice idea in theory. In practice, you'd be hard-pressed to find any corporation that was actually brought to its knees by consumer power.

[exmoor-cat.livejournal.com]

Which shops stock landmines? I will then tell my friends not to buy landmines from those stores.

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. People have been boycotting Nestle, Nike and so on for decades with little effect.
http://www.karmabanque.com/ on the other hand is well worth visiting... it's a site where people can register their boycotts, to encourage investors to short-sell shares in those companies, forcing stock prices down...

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Well, you would, but usually on account of a stupid commercial decision (new coke, ahem) as opposed to something unrelated to the service they provide.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I do boycott Nestle myself, personally, but that's not out of any misguided idea that I might somehow contribute to nestle's downfall; Nestle is just too big for that. I boycott them because their policies go against my personal ethics.

It's much like my reasons for not eating halal; I'm under no illusion that by not eating halal I will help stop halal slaughter of animals; but I am more comfortable morally and ethically in avoiding halal personally.

It's purely a matter of personal ethics for me, and not an issue of consumer power.

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here. I just can't give my money to baby-killers...

[karen2205]

What purchases do you make that directly or indirectly support war? Are people's lives really worth the money you save, or the convenience you get, or whatever other reason it is that you make those purchases?

While war is not desirable, it's sometimes the least worst alternative in a given situation. My ethics would stop me buying products which directly/indirectly support wars I believe to be unethical/where I would want to support one side over another/don't know enough about it to make an informed choice. But I don't see all wars as unethical.

Likewise landmines have a legitimate use on the battlefield. There are countries/groups I wouldn't want using them, but if they're the only option in the hands of a country I support then I'd rather they were used than not used.

Trade unions have a very important role - I've not joined one because there isn't/wasn't the last time I looked a suitable one for me to join. Lawyers don't have one (the Law Society tries to do some trade uniony type stuff eg. minimum salaries for trainees) and there isn't one for temps either.

Dependency on oil products - I'm kind of working on this, very very slowly. If I eventually get to do what I want to and build my own house, I'm going to be very careful to make the upkeep/heating/electricity needs of the house not rely on oil through use of solar panels/possible a wind terbine (if it's in the right kind of place for one of those).

I did buy recycled toilet roll and kitchen roll (it was the cheapest one Sainsbury's had apart from their basics and I refuse to use really cheap toilet roll).

I don't buy locally. This is partly from a lack of tuits and a lack of cash and general laziness, but it's also because I don't trust myself. How am I supposed to know whether the veg at the farmers' market (believe there's one fairly close to me that's only open on a weekday mmorning) is as good as the veg at the supermarket? Yes, I know stuff sold at farmers' markets etc tends to be better than that sold in supermarkets, but eh, I trust that supermarket buyers aren't going to poison me. I don't have that trust in myself.

Growing my own I will investigate when I'm living somewhere with a garden.

[gigglingwizard.livejournal.com]

How's the landmine bit work? I've never purchased one directly, and unless I'm willing to explore a switch to a lifestyle of incarceration, I have to give my government money to buy them.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

The government buys them from private manufacturers. Those manufacturers make other things too.

Everything is connected.

[oban23.livejournal.com]

I sure as fuck am not going to support local Slovenian farmers. The dirty rabble can starve to death for all I care.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Sometime I'll publish the checklist for inducing share price fluctuations that cost the directors money.

It follows from a cute little article in the FT's 'people' column which everybody who matters in the market reads about an ordinary family man who was stiffed by a misleading family promotion at *mumble* prominent theme park in the Midlands *Mumble*. He complained in writing the next day, and received a truly disgraceful written reply. Which was published, in full, alongside the article.

The family bloke is a fund manager and the article was published on the very morning of the theme park company's Initial Public Offering.

[knockoutapathy.livejournal.com]

I like Howies.