Boycotts don’t work.
Boycotts rarely, if ever, achieve the goal(s) set out for them, in large part because boycott organizers lack clear goals for what response the boycott is supposed to trigger and especially for what the boycotting action has to demonstrate in order to be seen as “successful”.
So I’ve got a proposal, for those who want to use a boycott to show Whole Foods that they disagree with John Mackey’s comments about Obamacare:
Boycott Whole Foods, and do it in a S.M.A.R.T. way:
Make it a 10- day boycott
A 10-day boycott is more likely to succeed than an unscheduled, unlimited boycott, because a 10-Day Boycott is:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Your remember SMART objectives, don’t you? I first learned about SMART objectives as a sales rep for P&G, where we had to manage and choose among a bunch of competing goals. This nifty acronym has long worked for me for crafting goals that work. Just this week, Alan Skorkin posted a full great description of this kind of goal-setting, which you should read for more details. But back to Whole Foods. …
How a 10-Day Boycott Works
Folks advocating a boycott of Whole Foods should choose one 10-day period, and advertise the start and stop date of the boycott to all who are interested in participating. This will work better than an open-ended boycott because it will be –
Specific:
Set a specific time span. The boycott would cover a single 10 day span. Note that 10 days is the maximum amount of time in a grocery purchase cycle (most every one buys groceries at least once in a 10 day period.) With a boycott that spans this length of time, each participant is asked to skip one (maybe two) purchase cycles. Set a specific action within the time span: Don’t shop at Whole Foods. Lets boycotters know exactly what they are supposed to do– shop somewhere else during those 10 days.
Brayden King, boycott scholar, recommends that organizers be specific about two other elements of the boycott plan, beyond the date and the action:
- Make the GOAL of the boycott specific too, so that the boycott target knows just what you want them to change or do.
- Offer a specific Alternative Action (like, “Shop at the People’s Food Co-op”). When people have an alternative action to replace the action they are boycotting, it makes it easier to follow through.
And an added bonus– you can throw some support to an organization who *does* share the boycotters’ values. [8.28.09]
Measurable:
A 10-day boycott spans enough time, a specific enough time, and a specific enough action that its impact cam be measured. Metrics 101 reminds us that its difficult to measure something that has no specific beginning and no specific end… Boycott organizers could measure the impact themselves if they choose to, and do this more easily than with an ongoing boycott. While the most precise measure of the effect of the boycott would be to compare same store sales vs. the previous year, even without access to that kind of data, activists could use reasonable proxy measures; they could count the # of cars into the parking lot for a week before the boycott vs those in the parking lot for 7 days of the boycott. Time intensive, yes, but also measurable.
A 10-day boycott is measurable in another way too— other people can see a focused boycott more easily than one stretched out over time. This visibility helps boycotts do their best work, of damaging the organization’s reputation. Mashable notes the drop in consumers’ positive perceptions of Whole Foods, and suggests that this is linked to boycott efforts on Facebook.)
Achievable:
For angry Whole Foods customers, it’s just not that hard to skip one purchase cycle. And, even for those who are not quite so angry or quite so convinced, a 10 day boycott is something they might participate in. It’s a lot easier to shop elsewhere just once or twice, and then to go back to Whole Foods, becuase this requires much less commitment than an ongoing boycott.
Relevant:
Folks who are mad at Whole Foods, want to demonstrate just how angry they are. A 10-Day boycott of Whole Foods will show that many regular customers are mad. Customers can direct their anger/values into their behavior, and “do something” rather than just stew about it. And, they can direct their frustration at the purported source of their concern– the organization that is Whole Foods.
By not shopping their during this limited focused time, customers can demonstrate that the support they give to Whole Foods because of what (they think) Whole Foods stands for can also be rescinded if Whole Foods turns out to be different from what it has been telling customers. If values draw customers, then values repel customers.
A 10-day boycott is relevant in another way– It is focused enough that folks who are ambivalent about whether ‘punishing’ the organization is really the right thing to do might participate anyway. Boycotts are so often ‘all or nothing’ efforts that they end up being nothing because they cannot (seem to) get big enough to matter. But the goal of a 10-day boycott is not to shut down the business– that would be nearly impossible.
The goal of a 10- Day Boycott is to say, “Hey, we’re pissed. We want you to recognize that we shop here because we like your values, so you’d better adhere to these values.” As Savoyards anywhere would note, we must “let the punishment fit the crime.”
Time-Boxed:
Setting a specific time frame– just 10 days– makes it easy for people to commit to participating. They know just what they are getting in to. With sharp start and stop limits, a 10-day boycott can have a more focused effect ( i.e., better that 100 people skip Whole Foods over 10 days, than this same 100 people over 38 days). And, a time-boxed boycott is just easier for any slacktivists… it might get the out of their armchairs and off to the local food coop, because it’s simple.
Is a 10-Day Boycott the right thing to do to respond to Mackey’s Op-Ed piece?
Personally, I think that people who are really concerned about Mackey as a leader of Whole Foods and as a defender/promoter of progressive values would be better off writing letters to Whole Foods’ board, and telling the Board that they want Whole Foods to be lead by people whose personal values are firmly aligned with the ones that Whole Foods’ purports to hold.
A boycott may not be the ‘right’ response, but if a boycott is called for, then a 10-day Boycott is a S.M.A.R.T.er way to go.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Who Does Boycotting Whole Foods Help? (takepart.com)
- As Whole Foods Boycott Grows on Facebook, Brand Perception Drops (mashable.com)
- The Two-Faced CEO: Citizen or Whole Foods Shareholder? (socialmediatoday.com)
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3. Encourage a systemic effort within each organization to identify, track, and eliminate gender-based pay inequity. While some individual firms have aggressively monitored their pay and promotion systems to identify and root out discrimination linked to gender and race, most organizations have not.
I am an organizational identity and reputation scholar with a PhD in leadership & organizations. I research, write, teach and consult with organizations about the relationships between organizational identity, actions, and purpose. See the 
