If you’re on social media right now, you are likely seeing calls to join a 24-hour consumer shopping boycott on all major retailers this Friday.
“No Amazon, Walmart, Target, fast food,” and “Buy only essential from small, local businesses,” two popular Instagram posts about the boycott advise.
The Friday, one-day “economic blackout” is being organized by the nonpartisan People’s Union USA group that meditation teacher John Schwartz started. His posts about a no-shopping blackout on Instagram and TikTok under the handle “TheOneCalledJai” have gone viral in recent days.
In Schwartz’s view, this kind of consumer behavior is the first step to remind businesses and politicians “who really holds the power,” as he has put it on social media.
“The economy does not belong to the rich. It belongs to us, the people who wake up every day and keep this country moving. But instead of serving us, the system has been designed to exploit us. Corporations profit off of our labor while keeping wages low,” Schwartz said in an Instagram video about the movement. “On February 28 we are going to remind them who really holds the power…They have controlled us through our labor and spending. Now we control them.”
Since “corporations and banks only care about their bottom line,” the People’s Union USA group website is directing people to avoid shopping online or in stores at any major retailers, and to only buy food, medicine and other emergency supplies at local, small businesses this Friday.
Can a boycott of businesses actually effect change? Economists who study consumer behavior share the possibilities and limits of what could happen.
What A One-Day Boycott Can And Can’t Do
Critics call this grassroots campaign, which has been largely social-media driven, mostly ineffective since it lacks a focused target. But one of the boycott’s biggest strengths is how it is now a national conversation starter.
“A single-day boycott is more symbolic than financially disruptive. Most businesses can absorb a 24-hour dip in sales, especially if consumers make purchases before or after the event,” said Americus Reed, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “However, the real power is in the message ― it signals collective dissatisfaction and can create media attention, which is often more impactful than the short-term revenue loss.”
In this way, posting about it does make a difference. Reed said spreading the no-shopping message on social media is key to this kind of boycott’s success. “If people are talking about it, brands will start listening once the conversation becomes national,” he said.
At the same time, one day may not be enough of a conversation starter.
“Many customers who support the boycott will shop on Thursday or Saturday, and then say they made a difference by not shopping on Friday,” said Maclyn Clouse, a finance professor at the University of Denver’s Reiman School of Finance.
Clouse said the broad message behind the “economic blackout” is also a downside, because it causes “confusion,” noting that he has seen people say they are participating because of wide-ranging reasons like corporate greed, DEI policies being eliminated, or because of the Trump administration’s firings.
So what would it take for Friday’s boycott to make a real difference?
To be most effective, a boycott needs to “hit a company where it hurts ― revenue, reputation or investor confidence,” Reed explained.
Successful boycotts pressure businesses through negative publicity or stock price reactions. History has shown that it’s possible. Reed cited sustained, well-organized boycotts like the Montgomery Bus boycott during the Civil Rights movement or the 1970s Nestlé baby formula boycott. But those both lasted longer than one day.
The Feb. 28 action is set to last 24 hours, but it is not the end of the grassroots no-spending movement. “If enough of us participate, they will feel it. If they don’t listen, we escalate,” Schwartz has said about the Feb. 28 one-day action.
Following the planned Friday boycott, the People’s Union USA is also doing longer, more targeted boycotts, including one on March 7-14 for Amazon and April 7-14 for Walmart.
The Feb. 28 spending “economic blackout” is also part of similar movements to boycott businesses in recent months over company actions. Because Target is scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Black clergy members in Atlanta are organizing a 40-day “Target fast” to coincide with the religious observance of Lent, as one other example.
But what separates moments from movements is mass participation and clear demands. “If the protestors really want to change things and affect the corporations, they need to convince the customers to never shop at Walmart, Target, Amazon,” Clouse said.
“Sporadic or short-lived efforts often fade without forcing real shifts. The key is persistence and a clear demand for change,” Reed said. “It’s ‘easy’ to do something online and claim the moral high ground as opposed to having to take off work, make a sign and stand on the corner and protest.”
In other words, boycotts work best when there are real sacrifices and are inconvenient to both the people doing it and the businesses they are protesting against.
Artist Martha Rich, who made one of the popular illustrated Instagram posts about the no-shopping movement being shared online, said the hardest part will be avoiding Target tomorrow since it was her “go-to place.”
But she is committed to doing so because “I despise what this administration is doing. This is a way to get people to understand that together we have power.”