I often get asked this, in particular to do with the Nestle boycott.  I’ve also been interestedly reading lots of discussions about the Homeschool Blogger Boycott on various blogs and internet forums (I always think that ought to be ‘fora’ but it sounds too daft for words!).  It appears that many people really don’t understand the reasons for boycotting something.  My reasons are this:

1. It might stop something happening that you disagree with, or at least diminish it a little.

2. It educates people and brings to their attention the presence of something you disagree with, something that they may well disagree with as well.

3. For your own peace of mind - you know you are not lending any support to something you disagree with.

I don’t buy Nestle products because I hope that my little part in the organised boycott might press them to change their unethical marketing practices of breastmilk substitutes (and it has actually worked in the past).  When people ask me why I won’t eat Kitkats, I tell them - sometimes they are horrified and ask me to let me have more information so they can boycott Nestle too; sometimes they don’t believe me, or don’t believe that marketing breastmilk substitutes can have such a dire effect; sometimes they don’t believe boycotts work; sometimes they don’t think they’d be able to boycott such a huge multinational.  I don’t buy Nestle products because I am very unhappy with the idea that they will be using my money to support their unethical practices.

I boycott most unethical clothing companies.  There are no official boycotts of these companies, so it’s unlikely to have much effect on their behaviour but it does allow me to educate others and to ensure that I’m not helping finance their unpleasant behaviour.

Although I don’t have the logo on my blog, I also boycott Homeschool Blogger because I simply don’t want to have anything to do with anything that supports (or even recommends) a practice so abbhorent to me as corporal punishment.  I think it has an effect because so many people are boycotting it.  And it’s educating people - making people aware of the issue.

So that’s the point of boycotting.