Yes, I'm aware a full boycott is essentially impossible (online payment systems, etc.)
But is anyone making any effort to move away from USA companies?
I've been doing it with bike purchases and it's illuminating how much I buy from American companies, but it's often quite doable to do otherwise -- often by buying German instead.
What I'm not sure about is weather this has any impact at all, given most stuff, whether the company is European or American, may well be made in Taiwan, etc. And even if a company is European it could be owned by American investors, I think? (really I know almost nothing about the business world)
Maybe this is useful background context:
I fondly remember my old man stating in the late 70's/early 80's that he despised buying American made products as they were always cheaply built and designed to fail.
I can't say I've particularly followed his thinking having owned Spesh, Ibis and now Revel bikes but it's always made me chuckle.
No, I won't boycott America, but I can't see how Trump's tariff's are going to benefit anyone, including America.
Yes, but Chris King would be hard to replace. And its probably worth saying that of my 7 bicycles - 4 are American.
But in reality, it's not hard to avoid American goods. I'm not sure we buy anything (food wise) which is American. Most of my clothes are UK/European (but many are/were made in China - RAPHA for example)
Technology is quite hard. Phones, GPUs, CPUs, etc.
No, not at all. The United States has been a global hegemonic menace all my life, as far as I concerned. But not agreeing with a foreign government's policies isn't a good enough reason for me to boycott that country's produce, there aren't many, if any, governments whose policies I strongly support. Trump will be gone in less than 4 years anyway.
The only country whose produce I am totally boycotting is Israel. But that is part of a global boycott involving millions if not billions of people, it is likely to have some effect on a small country like Israel. My boycott of Israeli produce predates the current Israeli genocide btw.
Not especially, we're not Canada where there's been previously free trade between them and you could actually have a like for like decision in the supermarket. You're kinda stuck either boycotting stuff you wouldn't have bought anyway, or buying / using stuff that's simply ubiquitous like your work laptop probably came from Dell or IBM/Lenovo, telecoms probably runs on cisco gear, you holiday plans probably involve Boeing, P&W or GE, the petrol in your car was probably traded in dollars and via a US company at some point in it's journey.
We own a Ford Fiesta, but that was made in Dagenham from parts made in Mexico, Germany, Hungary, Turkey and probably others if I looked.
I doubt I eat much from American brands anyway as out nearest supermarkets are an Aldi and a Lidl. Heinz beans?
I do own a Harley Davidson, it's a bike, it's bought and paid for long ago, if people are shallow and materialistic enough to make a judgement about me based on that then that's their own problem. And given the company's issues and the number of dealers that have closed you'd struggle to buy a new one anyway!
My dad has another Harley and a Ural sidecar outfit, maybe I should ask him if he's OK 😂
The only country whose produce I am totally boycotting is Israel.
I guarantee a lot of printed items that pass through your hands will be produced on HP Indigo Presses which are made in Israel.
Lots of USA food brands
Walkers crisps
Scott's porridge or Quaker
Tropicana
Doritos
All owned by pepsi
Yes, but Chris King would be hard to replace. And its probably worth saying that of my 7 bicycles - 4 are American.
For me it's 2 of 3, although they are both second-hand steel frames built with whatever else I had/wanted.
I'm certainly not trying to be super dogmatic about this, but thinking about it at all has made me realise how much US stuff I buy almost habitually as I don't want to shop around (Maxxis and Camelbak being recent examples). But it's often easy to buy something European (Pirelli or Conti and Vaude and Deuter, in this case).
Fortunately I've never really understood Chris King -- Hope and DT seem all good.
Shoes are actually tricky. I'm a big fan of things that are actually footshaped, and the majority of brands that suit are american (Altra, Topo Athletic, Merrell, Vivobarefoot, ah, it seems they are majority UK owned via Clarks. Oh, which now apparently means they are owned largely by a Hong Kong investment company... perhaps that highlights the futility of this kind of thing...)
The only country whose produce I am totally boycotting is Israel.
I guarantee a lot of printed items that pass through your hands will be produced on HP Indigo Presses which are made in Israel.
Yes I am very aware of that sort of possibility. I very specifically boycott produce with a direct connection with Israel, eg something which says "produce of Israel".
I won't go to the extremes that some people go to because I don't believe it is feasible, or even particularly useful, eg the boycott of Starbucks (although I do boycott Starbucks coz its shite coffee imo)
Having said that I would boycott Barclays because of their involvement in Israel. But a boycott of Barclays could have, and probably is having, a significant impact.
I have half heartedly boycotted the US and will srep it up. My main issue is their role in global warming
I boycott quite a list of countries.
I don't buy a lot of American stuff anyway. Yes there is a couple of SRAM equipped bikes in the stable, but most are Shimano. I have absolutely no intention of visiting there again. Last time was a right PITA getting in through customs, just took an age. Given their immigration and 'two gender' stance, no chance.
Lots of USA food brands
Walkers crisps
Scott's porridge or Quaker
Tropicana
Doritos
All owned by pepsi
But how many of those products actually cross the Atlantic or are you just boycotting Lincolnshire potatoes, Ukrainian oats, Spanish oranges, etc.
Yes as much as is feasible. We were planning a long trip there next year to meet up with friends from Australia. That idea has been canned and we are going to head to Canada instead.
Like Ernie I'm also boycotting Israel.
I'm attempting to where possible. I'm not much into fast food, so maccys, KFC, Starbucks isn't an issue anyway. Bike stuff, there's generally good Euro alternatives and I'm mostly Shimano rather than SRAM based. I'm relatively deep down the Oakley rabbit hole - and I could use new lenses for my Ski goggles and my Jawbreaker bike glasses - that's just going to have to wait. Helmets might be a problem...
Don't use Amazon much - only for Kindle books.
IT is the big issue. iphone/ipad user (hopefully won't break them!); PC is all microsofty and googly, plus some specialist (US) software but it's dictated by the co. I work for. Not being compatible will just cause animosity
I'm actively boycotting Tesla by being too poor to buy one. That'll show Musk.
But how many of those products actually cross the Atlantic or are you just boycotting Lincolnshire potatoes, Ukrainian oats, Spanish oranges, etc.
This is part of it. Yes, It's Pepsico, but Walkers are made here. I think Dorito's are actually Smiths, which means they're Aussi/UK HQ and where they pay tax. I think they use Aussi potatoes. But ultimately, Pepsico, are able (whether they do is another matter) to scrape profit from Smiths/Walkers.
Stop using pretty much all social media, Microsoft products, Apple etc.
I'm not sure we buy anything (food wise) which is American
Check the raw ingredients (wheat) if not the finished product.
Ultimately, none of this will do anything. Trump is focusing on investment, not sales. He wants to show big ticket investment in the US thanks to tariffs and big European investment in defence thanks to browbeating. Sadly, this is all working like clockwork. Just look at the recent Hyundai announcement and the rise in European GDP spending on defence. We're all dancing to Trump's tune.
Ultimately, none of this will do anything
I wondered this when they were going on about boycotting in the other thread.
So, if for example you boycott Fox Racing Shox and they go out of business (unlikely, I suppose, depends how big the UK market is to them..) (but anyway, just an example)... is this likely to effect Trump and his tariffs, or the MTB guys who work in the Fox factory?
So, if for example you boycott Fox Racing Shox and they go out of business (unlikely, I suppose, depends how big the UK market is to them..) (but anyway, just an example)... is this likely to effect Trump and his tariffs, or the MTB guys who work in the Fox factory?
The broader issue is are you boycotting the right people anyway?
Say you boycotted buying flags from America. Great, you don't buy many stars and stripes anyway so MAGA won't notice, but you put the pride flag factory out of business and MAGA wins anyway.
Swap flag's for household products and foodstuffs and you have Unilever Vs Ben and Jerrys
Ben & Jerry's claims Unilever ousted its boss over political activism - BBC News
A quick question the Israel boycotters (is that a word?) - What would make you end your boycott? Or are you opposed to Israel's existence?
I avoid what I can. Lots of unavoidable but better to do something small than nothing.
He is deadly serious about both Canada and Greenland so we have to wean ourselves away, hard though it will certainly be
Trying to avoid anything connected with Musk , Bezos and Zukerberg,.
Didn't some called Adam Smith write The Wealth of Nations to suggest that free trade benefited everybody.
Might be useful is Dismal Donald and his mates grew a brain.
No boycott here. For a start I'm on a Google phone and a Chromebook, but I'm asking myself this question when buying goods
Can I get similar quality at similar price elsewhere?
If the answer is yes I do it.
Unless elsewhere is Israel which I have been boycotting for 40+ years
Lots of USA food brands
Walkers crisps
Scott's porridge or Quaker
Tropicana
Doritos
All owned by pepsi
Who are owned by me, and many others in turn....
I'm not going to boycott but I've always tried to at least somewhat buy ethically and I'm adding it into that. Especially Amazon, not for being american but for Bezos being a total ****, a horrendous employer and now the man behind Vance who somehow manages to be probably the biggest shit in this administration entirely made out of world beating shits.
I've got to be realistic with myself, I've not liked amazon for a long time but I still keep using them because they're cheap and convenient. So I'm not going to stop using them entirely, there's just no way, sooner or later I'll want something tomorrow. And amazon is so built-in now, with web hosting, with courier services- something I bought from someone else just arrived in an amazon van. I'm not going to lose any sleep over that.
But you don't have to completely boycott to make a little difference, that's important to remember, if 2 people cut their spending by half or 10 by 10% or 100 by 1% that's every bit as good as 1 by 100%- provided it's not an excuse not to do more at least. Just like with green stuff, people talk as if it's all or nothing and you have to basically be a monk living in a cave or you're a hypocrite, it's just so damaging, little actions count and if all you're going to do is little actions then you shouldn't ever be deterred by the fact that there are also big actions.
And no I'm not going to boycott good american companies, there's plenty of dudes I like out there doing good stuff and I'm not going to punish them for where they were born.
Yes - or at the very least it has made me much more aware/curious
But not agreeing with a foreign government's policies isn't a good enough reason for me to boycott that country's produce,
For me it's a little deeper than the government - it's more the people that are responsible for that government having the opportunity to be in power to have those policies I have a problem with. In this case, for me, it's an objection to funding the lives of people who gave Trump their vote (or couldn't be bothered to vote) to give him the capacity to do what he's doing. Not when I have a choice and could punt my money elsewhere.
Have I gone completely cold (yanky) turkey? No. Are there grey areas, like Uk/European made goods made by US based multinationals? Of course. Do my individual choices make a scrap of difference? Not on my own. But as a general principle, when given a choice, I'll make anti US choices as a consumer where possible and prioritise that over other considerations possibly to my own detriment.
Also...and this is weird I admit and possibly a good (in a bad way) sign where my head is at the minute....I'm choosing not to watch TV or listen audiobooks where the actors/narrators have american accents as I find them unpleasant to listen to at the minute.
A quick question the Israel boycotters (is that a word?) - What would make you end your boycott? Or are you opposed to Israel's existence?
Stopping running a racist apartheid regime for a start. Certainly not opposed to Israel's existence, just its actions.
Yep, last couple of weeks a Hope hub and headset acquired instead of my usual Chris King and a Bosch sander instead of a DeWalt. Struggling a bit to find an alternative to what's app but I'm looking, that's going to the most difficult to get rid of. Started the conversation at work about moving away from Facebook and Google for advertising (£80k/year), we've already ditched twitter.
.
.
I'm very surprised for such a lefty forum, of which I'm one of the right wing members, how few are doing this. I was expecting this to be a bigger issue for a lot more of us. Or does the fact that it's sometimes a bit difficult trump morality?
Not boycotting really but I did notice some Jack Daniels in Tesco the other day and found myself thinking that I wouldn't buy that now. I mean I'm not in the habit of buying it, but still, my perception of it has changed.
I think I'm some way from checking labels but I'd probably avoid obviously American stuff if I could now.
Sort of. It's company specific though. Nestlé aren't American but they've been on my avoid list for 45 years. No Amazon purchases in years. Facebook no ta but my social life would be a shambles without Whatsapp. Tesla, sorry but those charge points are just too reliable, fast, convenient and cheap to drive past, and I feel sorry for Tesla drivers who who bought before last Summer and the workers in Berlin. Specialized and Patagonia I now avoid. Microsoft gets my business but **** X. Warmouth make such good guitar parts I'll still buy. And this website which gets a good chunk of its revenue from US companies - well I'm still here. 🙂
A quick question the Israel boycotters (is that a word?) - What would make you end your boycott?
To start with stop ethnic cleansing and murdering civilians. Complete change of the current governance and a proper move towards a long term peaceful solution.
I have no issue with their existence but do with the current actions of the state.
I'm relatively deep down the Oakley rabbit hole - and I could use new lenses for my Ski goggles and my Jawbreaker bike glasses - that's just going to have to wait.
Oakley are owned by Luxotica who are Italian
I don't boycott anyone but I just don't buy them. Not because of the country they are made but they are just lousy products.
A while back I bought two Lodge cast iron skillets (proper stuff Made in USA) because they are very good.
I used to buy plenty of Israeli dates but not anymore because there are other middle eastern dates that are better.
Also I used to buy Israeli "religious" non-alcohol grape "wine" occasionally because I wanted to taste it. Well, nothing special at all and it tastes like grape juicy with sulphites. Now I just prefer freshly squeezed grape juicy or Ribena.
I decided that I would boycott all US products and cultural influences (other than those of BAME origin) that had intrinsic gravitas and worth.
Turns out I don't need to deny myself anything.
🤷♂️
I accept the right of Israel to exist , as a homeland for Israelis. I believe that Palestinians also have a right to a homeland.
I accept the right of Israel to exist , as a homeland for Israelis. I believe that Palestinians also have a right to a homeland.
Israel (just a name for the land) is the homeland of Palestinians except with different religion. They should co-exist. If the leaders are fair they will be respected by All.
For those looking for an alternative to whatsapp try signal
Nope, about the only thing I can think of that I reuse to have is Tesla, could have got a good deal a couple of years ago as a company car but even back then I thought Musk was **** and refused to have one.
Not especially, we're not Canada
Is the absolutely disgraceful way they're behaving towards Canada not enough to make you do it? Canada, along with Australia and NZ, are probably our closest allies. No, France is an ally, Belgium is an ally, the US is (was?) an ally. Canada is family! This is the absolute least we can do right now. If the US wants to go it alone and *** their friends over let them, let them find out what alone means. And before you start saying but what about innocent Americans losing their jobs as someone did up there, doing this is protecting innocent people's jobs elsewhere, and more than half of those Americans voted in the tangerine halfwit in the first place, they are responsible.
"We're not Canada" doesn't wash. "They came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I am not a Jew...." You wouldn't buy anything from Russia or North Korea, not that NK has much to sell, but it's time to stop buying American too
I decided that I would boycott all US products and cultural influences (other than those of BAME origin)
Products I can understand, but cultural influences? Good luck with that! Would that include music and musicians? Far and away the majority of American musicians are appalled at the direction their government has taken, so why should I make them suffer financially by boycotting their music?
Oh and BAME origin? You do realise that there were a lot of Black Americans who supported Diaper Don, voted for him and continue to think he’s their man and is doing God’s work. Take Ye, as an example.
I feel like I should. Trump is temporary, but some of the ideas and damage done won't be. Of course many of the states we're buying products from happen to be democrat, where as we buy far less from republican states. Economy's of republican states tend to be inward focused, and poorer, democrat states tend to be externally focused, and richer. Funny that. Would be easy to stop buying anything American for cycling, cars, tech hardware. Gets nearly impossible for software. I wouldn't bother trying for food, drinks, films, TV. Trouble is it needs enough people on board to make a difference noticeable on the books. Tesla and Twitter are already feeling the heat. Others not so much...yet. Note the 25% tariff on cars, done in large part to shield Elon/Tesla from foreign competition that was about to do a demolition job on them.
Someone up the page mentioned Maxxis. Keep buying, they're Taiwanese.
I struggle with the idea of boycotting the purchase of products in what is a global economy. I've Israeli family. They're beautiful, non-violent people - why would I wish them ill? I've American non-Trump voting friends - why would I wish them ill?
I think we could probably find plenty of reasons to boycott many countries if we looked at their policies, the power or the funds behind the governments.
For example, why not boycott products from countries whose governments allow the sales of arms to the likes of US and Israel?
Put it the other way. Why would you put money into the hands of despotic governments?
I wont.
All it takes for evil to flourish is for good folk to do nothing.
Do your family live in isreal? Then they are complicit in the genocide happening right now
Put it the other way. Why would you put money into the hands of despotic governments?
I wont.
But whether you like it or not I bet you do.
I have Israeli family that are vehemently against their government. Like many people in many parts of the world.
I had family that killed many, many Germans in WW2, and I had family that lived under Nazi rule. I had family that were refugees and lost every other family member to genocide (not the genocide you're thinking of though).
Boycotting seems a very simplistic answer to much more complex problems.
Products I can understand, but cultural influences? Good luck with that! Would that include music and musicians? Far and away the majority of American musicians are appalled at the direction their government has taken, so why should I make them suffer financially by boycotting their music?
Oh and BAME origin? You do realise that there were a lot of Black Americans who supported Diaper Don, voted for him and continue to think he’s their man and is doing God’s work. Take Ye, as an example.
I may have typed my post in jest to some extent. 😐
Boycotting seems a very simplistic answer to much more complex problems.
It's not just the actual boycotting and its dollar note impact, though.
It's also a general feeling that the rest of the world doesn't like you. So a misdirected boycott of a US firm that opposes Trump might lead to that brand putting out a statement reiterating that opposition and a "hey, you can buy from us, we're not assholes" movement might be born.
It's why I like to characterise Trump voters on Xitter as grass-chewing, inbred, rural halfwits. When someone who is not this stereotype retorts with "we're not all redneck idiots" I can reply with "don't act like it, then".
I heard a good conversation with a bloke who was studying WW2 allied propaganda methods. He was saying that a multi-pronged approach was needed.
Identify people with a lazy stereotype, so you can then have them reject that stereotype and not want to be lumped in with them.
Looks for clear ideological inconsistencies - Musk wants low paid foreign workers in the US working for him, many other prominent Republicans campaigned for American jobs for American guys and gals. Hammer these inconsistencies until they split.
Etc.
No - there's been plenty of better reasons to boycott various countries in the past. It's not new that American administrations are all of a sudden agressive bullies. Just because it's topical doesn't push it to the top of the pile.
(There's more to the USA than just Trump who won't be around forever.)
For those on the fence just look at the child labour laws being looked for Florida a popular holiday destination
Some of you just don't get it.
It's not just a question of getting through the next four years. If the American people see this government dictatorship as being good for them then in 2029 we get President JD Vance.
There is a point about China, but China is improving. They are allowing more freedoms, they are improving workers rights, they are building more low carbon power generation, they are embracing EV's and generally life is getting better albeit from a pretty low base.
America under Trump is going the other way and fast. Reduction of women's rights, total elimination of LGBT rights, child exploitation, aggressive moves towards Canada, Greenland and Panama, drill baby drill, handing Ukraine to Russia and Gaza to Israel, deporting people because of their colour or religion, trade wars which make everyone poorer etc etc.
If you support American organisations you are complicit in supporting these policies. The American people need to be made poorer. They need to understand there are repercussions to electing a fascist, and those repercussions mean their quality of life is worse.
Boycotting American companies might be a very blunt instrument. Buying an Orbea rather than a Specialized bike might be seen as hitting the wrong people - Specialized are based in California, a mostly Democratic state. But when Billy-Bob in Florida can't buy a Stumpjumper anymore because they have gone bust and he can't put SRAM gears on his bike because they've gone as well then he might just think that Trumps policies are not very good...
What we are seeing now is just the start of what Trump and Vance want. If this goes on, expect women to lose the vote along with pretty much anyone who isn't a rich, white, straight male, expect "conversion" camps for anyone who is LGBT, expect global conflict and environmental disaster.
The only people who can stop it is the American electorate, and the only way we can influence them is to make their lives worse under Trump, the same way that he is making our lives worse.
"Make America Great Again", has to demonstrably fail. If it succeeds for Americans that will add weight to the right wingers across the rest of the world. We'll end up with Reform running the UK and fascist governments across Europe. Do you really want that?
You are either against what America is doing and boycotting them, or supporting them. Which side of the divide do you want to tell your Children you were on.
It's a nice idea, and I will not ever be buying a Tesla (mostly becasue they're so fuggin ugly!)
But, tt's VERY difficult. The products discussed further up the thread pale into insignificance against the service sector. Even this website is likely hosted on a US owned service. Nearly everything digital (in the west) is US owned.
we are going to head to Canada instead.
Us too, hopefully.
I'm not going to boycott but I've always tried to at least somewhat buy ethically and I'm adding it into that. Especially Amazon, not for being american but for Bezos being a total ****, a horrendous employer and now the man behind Vance who somehow manages to be probably the biggest shit in this administration entirely made out of world beating shits.
I've got to be realistic with myself, I've not liked amazon for a long time but I still keep using them because they're cheap and convenient. So I'm not going to stop using them entirely, there's just no way, sooner or later I'll want something tomorrow. And amazon is so built-in now, with web hosting, with courier services- something I bought from someone else just arrived in an amazon van. I'm not going to lose any sleep over that.
But you don't have to completely boycott to make a little difference, that's important to remember, if 2 people cut their spending by half or 10 by 10% or 100 by 1% that's every bit as good as 1 by 100%- provided it's not an excuse not to do more at least. Just like with green stuff, people talk as if it's all or nothing and you have to basically be a monk living in a cave or you're a hypocrite, it's just so damaging, little actions count and if all you're going to do is little actions then you shouldn't ever be deterred by the fact that there are also big actions.
And no I'm not going to boycott good american companies, there's plenty of dudes I like out there doing good stuff and I'm not going to punish them for where they were born.
on the Amazon thing - if you need a widget tomorrow and it’s available from both a uk domiciled shop and Amazon, an unscrupulous person might buy both. When the uk one gets delivered, return it to Amazon unused for a refund… 😎
For all the boycotters, can I suggest telling the companies about it when you avoid something?
I suspect that if (Chris King/DeWalt/Jack Daniels/whoever) lose 1000 sales per month they probably won't care or even notice. But if they start regularly getting 1000 emails per month saying "I wanted your product but avoided you simply because you're American" this might make them start to sit up and take notice a little more, leading to changing companies' opinions towards the government etc...
I agree with the general sentiment from many that a boycott of of US products is both blunt and impossible to do thoroughly. But I think this is a case of perfect being the enemy of the good.
For one, I think the world 'boycott' can be more triggering than it needs to be. For me, all I am now doing is actually thinking about the biking stuff I buy, and when there is a suitable non-USA alternative, going for that. You could say 'what if the american business that looses out is anti-Trump, why punish them?', but that's not really helpful. If the alternative is buying something from say a German manufacturer, well, they definitely didn't vote Trump in and given the state of the German economy they probably need my business more. So I certainly don't want to 'punish' them by continuing to buy American.
Second, while I completely agree that the US has always been a bully, this behaviour seems to be severely escalating. Even if that's perception not reality, that simply means a boycott would have made sense a long time ago. Of course there are arguments to boycott many other countries, too, but the US is the world's defacto police force and is basically a rogue state at this point (see the santioning of members of the ICC, for example). China's domestic politics may be much more oppressive than the US, but geopolitically they are far more benign (at least, for now).
Finally, as boriselbrus pointed out, Trump(ism) really shouldn't been seen as a temporary blip. If Vance follows, there'll be more of the same. And I think it's likely Trump will try for a 3rd term or more -- consider that those suggesting he wouldn't accept the 2020 election results weren't taken seriously at the time and the democrats had no plan for how to deal with it, but in hindsight, its impossible to imagine Trump ever accepting he lost anything. He just doesn't have the capacity for that. He probably has enough control of the levers of power now that he won't need to fall back on inciting a half-arsed insurrection.
Last night in Ourense ,cycling along parts of the Compostela routes between Lisbon and Vigo up inland along the boarder.Nice hotel never booked as trying to stop using booking sites. Breakfast 30€ declined and then the usual email and phone no. Then told we have a 12% discount , breakfast and not paying 10/20 % fee to American booking site a win. Also cancelled Strava premium , next phone a Sony or Samsung . I don't have any TV ,streaming , Facebook to worry about . Next is getting rid of my Trek bike or trash it and have a warranty replacement.
For all the boycotters, can I suggest telling the companies about it when you avoid something?
We cancelled Prime, Spotify and Disney+ but none of them had a box to tick 'because Trump is a ****'
Im going to have serious look at this when i get home. Facebook is going. Amazon i only use for occasional mainly free books. I got locked into kindles early on but i think there are alternatives now so will look into that. Never bought anything else from amazon
I don't use Google apart from maps on occasion and outside of europe i dont know any alternatives. Im logged out of google on all my stuff.
The only microsoft i have is a basic operating system bought years ago. None of their programmes
Never been in a starbucks
Bikes are tricky as Japan is also on my list but my Shand is almost all European kit. Ill never buy another new bike more than likely and hate derailleirs so hope and rohloff will see me right
Never use trip advisor or any of those 3rd party sites.
I try to avoid foodstuffs from non European companies. Something to look at more closely
Paypal i do use but that is going to be ditched.
Spotify American? Bugger thats going to be difficult. Any European alternatives?
To me its a basic ethical stance.
What else might i have missed?
On the avoiding Amazon kindle front - you can borrow ebooks from your library and send them to your kindle. Need to manage them via caliber an open source library on your computer.
Spotify is like Britt Ekland Sweedish
Spotify is like Britt Ekland Sweedish
Good to know, I took advantage of getting the wife and daughter to get rid of things we can easily live without
So why is Japan on the boycott list?
Well said Boris👍
Is the absolutely disgraceful way they're behaving towards Canada not enough to make you do it?
@andrewh , ohh be fair with your quotations.
My point was clearly that we don't have the same level of cross border trade with them that Canada (or Mexico) does.
If I walked into Tesco now, with the exception of:
Bourbon and Californian Wines in the booze isle.
Reeses / Hersheys chcoclate-ish flavoured crap
And if it's a really big Tesco Extra it might have a 6ft wide "USA" produce stand at the back with lucky charms and Nerds on it.
I'd struggle to actually find anything that was made in the USA.
Whereas in Canada half the supermarket crossed the border so there's a meaningful boycott going on.
And then it get's even more complicated when people start taking about American brands. Budweiser is unquestionably American, but owned by a German company and made in the EU. Ben and Jerries ice cream, very American. But also anti-Trump and owned by Unilever, so actually British, but Unilever are seemingly being pro-Trump. So should we boycott their "American" ice cream but continue to use their washing up liquid?
So why is Japan on the boycott list?
Killing whales and other eco crimes. Subjugation of women amongst other issues
Tinas. For me its all about putting money into the American economy so anything from a us owned company.
Ourense
We walked up the coast recently and the inland walk a few years back, both great. An alternative experience is turning up at hotel in Spain where the prices are higher than on booking and the receptionist refuses to even price match. Go outside, make the reservation on booking and go back in. We used to offer to split the 12% but after a few refusals or worse just use booking, their loss. 🙁
I take your point but there's a lot more than that. Heinz for example are US owned, so no more of their beans for me. Branston are a UK company owned by a Japanese company, they'll get all my business now rather than flipping between the two.
Kraft, which owns Heinz, is massive. I'm going to try to familiarise myself with their list of brands and avoid them all next time I'm in the supermarket.
I never buy Coke or Pepsi anyway, I did buy Tropicana and Copella but both are owned by Pepsi so not any more. Smaller British brands should hopefully benefit from this.
I never use Asda owned by Walmart and what about all the premier league teams owned by Americans
I take your point but there's a lot more than that.
But then you could take that to any degree you like.
Make you porridge with only British oats via only British brands in paper packaging to avoid polythene made from imported LNG? Then how are you making sure that the fertilizer / herbicide / pesticide wasn't imported?
My point is that in Canada it would be easy to say "this is Canadian maple syrup" and "this is an American truck" even if the Canadian maple syrup came in a plastic bottle made in America, and the truck was built from parts made in Canada. By the time you get to the UK the 'American' part is almost ubiquitous and harder to define.
Take your Branston Beans, European countries have had negligible bean production this century, the USA produced over a billion tonnes a year. Bean production, 2023
tinas. For me its all about putting money into the American economy so anything from a us owned company.
So out of pedantry, where do Ben and Jerrys and Budweiser fall on that (without just saying you're too posh to consider either of them anyway 😉 )
For all the talk of a possible boycott of American products then you’re not going to make much difference, Angus Hanton’s book is quite an eye opener as to the extent of American influence and ownership of the UK
It does all feel a bit futile. On the most basic level most of cloud hosting is AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle... So unless you stop using anything web based you've fallen at the first hurdle. Then who amongst us is using Apple or Android for mobile devices. Microsoft, Apple or Google for laptops.
Then there is are the food mega corporations that own so many brands - same across so many sectors.
Given the ease of movement of capital internationally and the prevalence of global supply chains across all sectors it's basically impossible to boycott the US wholesale
This is basically the mistake Trump is making - he is applying 19th Century policy to a 21st Century world
Spotify is like Britt Ekland Sweedish
Good to know, I took advantage of getting the wife and daughter to get rid of things we can easily live without
Also platforms utter dickheads like Joe Rogan who preaches his “bro science,trust me bro” mentality and gets paid £300m to do so whilst preaching utter lies and scientific untruths, Daniel Ek of Spotify is a tech bro **** just like all the rest of them,
I never use Asda owned by Walmart
It isn't.
https://www.tdrcapital.com/tdr-capital-becomes-majority-owner-of-asda/
on the Amazon thing - if you need a widget tomorrow and it’s available from both a uk domiciled shop and Amazon, an unscrupulous person might buy both. When the uk one gets delivered, return it to Amazon unused for a refund… 😎
Unscrupulous, sod that, I'm very scrupulous and do this as often as possible.
It does all feel a bit futile. On the most basic level most of cloud hosting is AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle... So unless you stop using anything web based you've fallen at the first hurdle.
This is why no should be puritan about this -- a full boycott is impossible, but prioritising products that primarily benefit non-US companies and non-US jobs can often be neither difficult nor painful.
