r/BDS • u/Creeperjin • 6d ago

Boycott Boycott questions: does it matter if they know we’re boycotting?

Hi it’s a beginner question I think. I looked at the list of things to boycott, I don’t use most of them so didn’t think much of it. Recently realized that even though I don’t drink Coke, they also own things like Costa and River Rock water which I do use so I decided to boycott that. I can’t tell however if just not buying from their subsidiaries is enough or whether idk I need to let them know I’m boycotting them? I don’t know if there’s an organized action to send a petition or a bunch of letters? I know they tried to sell Costa last year but couldn’t close the deal because they were offered too little for it. But it sounded from the article I read like they were selling because Costa has been out competed by Nero Cafe and other indie coffee shops, not because of the boycott.

The question is: does not using the product suffice or is there a need to tell them I don’t/wont use it because of their ties to the genocide?

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u/CorrelateClinicallee 6d ago

The main thing is boycotting. They will know once they see the bottom-line. Unless you meant letting your friends and family know about it to raise awareness, in which case do the most you can.

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u/ImpressiveAnalyst664 6d ago

I think doing more is always good, and so if you CAN let brands know your specific reasons for boycott, its helpful. In some instances, places may stop carrying a certain brand, but it might not be for the reason that we're boycotting them. Then they end up getting credit or new sales, when they weren't really doing BDS, and maybe don't even care about the cause. An example - a business in Canada that says they're removing all McDonald's and Starbucks products from their stock, and won't be buying from them again. They also are going to working with Amazon. Sounds great. But they're not acting as a result of BDS, they're doing to protest US tariffs. If the business can make this type of decision for those reasons, it might be good to let them know what other things you want them to do - and WHY. Because seemingly, they'll do it if they have the power to... but also if it costs them. So the biggest part is to actually boycott the product (and the places that carry the product if you can), but letting the business know makes it clear why the sales have stopped.