Several campaign groups have called for a boycott of Ahava due to its involvement in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. 

In 2009 CODEPINK, the US women's anti-war movement, launched the 'Stolen Beauty' campaign targeting Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories. The campaign saw coordinated actions in countries such as Palestine, the US, UK, Netherlands, South Africa, and France.

In 2016 the campaign appeared to have some success - Ahava announced it would be opening a new manufacturing plant outside of the West Bank and within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, which many hoped signalled the company would fully withdraw from settlements.

However, it appears that Ahava did not close down the existing plant and as such continues to operate illegally on Palestinian land. 

In 2023 the BDS movement continues to call for a boycott of Ahava, stating “Ahava cosmetics has its production site, visitor center and main store in an illegal Israeli settlement.”

Ethical Consumer has called for a boycott of Amazon over its outrageous tax avoidance since 2012. And tax isn’t the only reason for the boycott call – Amazon’s poor record when it comes to workers’ rights and environmental impacts are also reasons for the boycott.

In September 2021, Amazon – which has a market value of £1.5 trillion – released its tax figures for the previous year. Its key arm in the UK, Amazon UK Services, paid just £3.8 million more in corporation tax than in 2019 despite sales rising by £1.9 billion. Profits increased to £128 million.

Amazon has also come to dominate many online markets globally. Amazon’s monopoly supports staggering inequalities: between March and September 2020, at a time when most businesses were struggling, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his personal wealth increase so much that he could have given all 876,000 Amazon employees a bonus of $105,000 and be as wealthy as he was pre-pandemic.

You can use your spending power to send Amazon a clear message.

• Take action now and pledge to boycott Amazon.
• Let them know you are doing it by emailing or tweeting them via our Amazon company profile page.
• Shop with more ethical alternatives

Read more about Ethical Consumer’s boycott of Amazon on our detailed page.

As part of the BDS movement, the ‘Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid’ coalition has called for a boycott of the insurance company over its links to Israeli banks that help maintain and expand unlawful settlements on Palestinian land.

The BDS Movement says 10,000 people and over 230 organisations have signed the pledge to boycott AXA.

The campaign called for an AXA Global Day of Action on 25 April 2022, on which supporters globally contacted AXA Customer Services to demand the company end its complicity in Israeli apartheid.

The campaign also published a report outlining the links between AXA and Israeli banks.

The UK Boycott Turkey campaign is focused on international solidarity and action against the regime in Turkey, working with Kurdish and Turkish civil society groups.

The campaign highlights institutions and corporations that are complicit in the oppressive policies of the Turkish state. The current regime in Turkey is quick to imprison political opponents who criticise the state or its assaults on Kurds. Academics, journalists and elected politicians are routinely jailed for using their right to free speech.

UK Boycott Turkey are asking consumers to boycott the brands that are intricately tied up with the regime, primarily Beko and Grundig. Both Beko and Grundig are owned by Arçelik AS, which is 57% owned by Koç Holding AS.  

The Koç group is a major Turkish conglomerate which plays a central role in the Turkish economy. It has a long history of links to the Turkish state, in particular through the Koç group company Otokar, and thus military manufacturing links. 

UK Boycott Turkey are also asking consumers to avoid supporting the Turkish government by avoiding taking holidays to Turkey. Turkish holding companies own travel companies and hotels also own arms companies. 

Read more about the Turkey boycott call here.

Beko and Grundig are well-known for selling white goods. In January 2022 the campaign tweeted “Do you need a new fridge? Don't fund the Turkish state's crimes.”

In October 2022 the BDS National Committee (BNC) called for a boycott of Chevron, stating that it “calls on supporters of Palestinian rights worldwide to join climate justice movements in holding Chevron and Siemens accountable for helping to fuel environmental destruction and Israeli apartheid”.

The BNC stated that Chevron had been the main international actor extracting gas claimed by Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2020, and that it was therefore implicated in Israel’s “practice of depriving the Palestinian people of their right to sovereignty over their natural resources”.

It also stated that this makes Chevron complicit in Israel’s siege of Gaza. It stated that Israel illegally transfers fossil gas to Egypt through a submarine pipeline, “owing Palestinians millions in transit fees”.

The #NotInMyFridge campaign by Friends of Al Aqsa calls for a boycott of Coca-Cola because it profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It states, “Coca-Cola's violates international law by operating in Atarot illegal Israeli settlement.”

It continues, "Central Bottling Company (CBC) is an Israeli manufacturer and distributor of soft drinks, dairy products and alcoholic beverages. Coca-Cola profits from the occupation by working with CBC which sells its drinks in Israel. CBC has a Coca-Cola factory in Atarot illegal Israeli settlement. Israeli settlements are built on land stolen from Palestinians and are illegal under international law. By having it’s Israeli franchise in illegal settlements, Coca-Cola ignores international law and profits from the illegal occupation."

FOA is calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola until it cuts ties with CBC.

PETA are calling on Channel 4 to stop airing Crufts. The BBC dropped the show after revelations about ill, inbred animals, and the RSPCA refuses to attend it. The culture of breeding has serious health implications for the dogs involved on the show. PETA claims:

With its obsession with "purity of breed", Crufts popularises grossly exaggerated features in animals and awards prizes to dogs whose physical abnormalities make it impossible for them to lead a happy life – pugs with pushed-in faces who can barely breathe, Cavalier King Charles spaniels whose brains are too big for their skulls and bulldogs who can't even mate without assistance, to name just a few examples.

The campaign says that this culture of breeding also have wider implication for canine welfare, pointing out that breeders may receive thousand of pounds for pedigree puppies with a low quality of life, while many healthy dogs remain in animal shelters. 

In March 2022 PETA slammed the competition as a “grotesque charade”. It is asking its supporters to contact Channel 4 and ask it to stop airing the show.

Naturewatch Foundation launched a boycott call against Ecover in April 2018, over the brand's links to companies that test products on animals. In December 2017, Ecover and its sister company Method were purchased by SC Johnson, a US company that openly admits to testing on animals and owns other non Naturewatch-endorsed household cleaning brands such as Duck, Shout, Glade, Pledge and Windex.

In January 2023 campaign manager for Animal Experiments at Naturewatch, Natalie Harney, said:

We commend method and Ecover for their personal commitments to being cruelty free, but sadly they've failed to use their influence on their parent company, SC Johnson. For as long as these - and any other brands - maintain direct or indirect links to animal testing, we'll urge compassionate shoppers to leave their products out of their basket.

The boycott has since seen some success with Ecover and Method committing to use their influence to convince SC Johnson to go cruelty-free. However, SC Johnson is yet to do so, and Naturewatch Foundation is asking compassionate consumers to boycott all SC Johnson brands, including Ecover and Method, until the entire company is cruelty-free. Read more about the boycott.

Fox News faces a boycott call over its hate speech and fake news. TrueUSA is calling on all advertisers to boycott the news corporation, and consumers to boycott brands that continue advertising with it. It says:

We’re demanding integrity from the brands to which we give our money. Fox News has proven itself again and again, from birtherism to the vile Seth Rich smear to the demonizing of Black Lives Matter, to be the most powerful outlet for hate, fear, and propaganda in America.

TrueUSA is asking supporters to:

• Choose one Fox News sponsor to boycott
• Contact the brand telling them you’re boycotting them until they drop support of Fox News
• Post about this on social media.

The UK Boycott Turkey campaign is focused on international solidarity and action against the regime in Turkey, working with Kurdish and Turkish civil society groups.

The campaign highlights institutions and corporations that are complicit in the oppressive policies of the Turkish state. The current regime in Turkey is quick to imprison political opponents who criticise the state or its assaults on Kurds. Academics, journalists and elected politicians are routinely jailed for using their right to free speech.

UK Boycott Turkey are asking consumers to boycott the brands that are intricately tied up with the regime, primarily Beko and Grundig. Both Beko and Grundig are owned by Arçelik AS, which is 57% owned by Koç Holding AS.  

The Koç group is a major Turkish conglomerate which plays a central role in the Turkish economy. It has a long history of links to the Turkish state, in particular through the Koç group company Otokar, and thus military manufacturing links. 

UK Boycott Turkey are also asking consumers to avoid supporting the Turkish government by avoiding taking holidays to Turkey. Turkish holding companies own travel companies and hotels also own arms companies. 

Read more about the Turkey boycott call here.

Beko and Grundig are well-known for selling white goods. In January 2022 the campaign tweeted “Do you need a new fridge? Don't fund the Turkish state's crimes.”

The Palestinian human rights movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is calling for a boycott of HP-branded corporations. These provide services to the Israeli police and prison services.

According to the Who Profits? website HPE was once again contracted to maintain servers for the Israeli Police until 2023.

In April 2022 the BDS National Committee called for an escalation of campaigns against HP.

Read more about the BDS movement and boycott of Israeli apartheid in our feature article.

The BDS movement is led by Palestinian civil society, and based on the 2005 Call for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights”, which was endorsed by more than 170 Palestinian civil society networks and groups. It follows  "decades of refusal to abide by UN resolutions, International Humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention." Businesses operating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine have also been targeted.

BDS describes itself as "a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity."

Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS call urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law.

The campaign has successfully persuaded governments, churches and banks to divest from companies involved in Israeli occupation, or which are operating in Israeli settlements in Palestine. It has also seen several targeted companies change their practices and break their ties with the Israeli government or relocate from settlements there. Read more about BDS.

American Muslims for Palestine have a long-running boycott call against Israeli date exporters, in response to the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel.

The campaign says that dates are regularly grown in illegal Israeli settlements. It urges people to buy dates that are not sourced from settlements, stating “Palestinian dates are often labeled “Grown in Palestine,” and there are a plethora of Algerian, Tunisian, Emirati, and Californian varieties to choose from.”

Read more about its 2023 boycott campaign.

GMO-Free USA has called a boycott of Kellogg's over the company's use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

The campaign also criticises Kellogg’s cereals for containing the cancer causing weed killer glyphosate. The cereal was proven to contain one of the highest levels of the chemical out of leading cereal brands in a 2018 investigation by the Environmental Working Group.

In December 2022 the campaign group posted on its Facebook page, “Boycott Kellogg's GMOs”.

A Kellogg’s spokesperson commented “Our food is safe … The Environmental Protection Agency sets strict standards for safe levels of these agricultural residues and the ingredients we purchase from suppliers for our foods fall under these limits”.

Naturewatch Foundation has a long-standing boycott of L'Oréal due to its continued use of animal testing for cosmetics. The French multinational uses ingredients that have been tested on animals, despite public statements to the contrary. It has also been criticised for lobbying against an EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics.

The company has a history of defending animal testing. In 2003, L'Oréal was also reported to be part of the European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients, a coalition of 70 European cosmetics companies. The organisation launched a legal challenge in the European Courts against the EU's ban on animal testing for cosmetics. 

In January 2023 campaign manager for Animal Experiments at Naturewatch, Natalie Harney, said:
“Our boycott of L'Oreal still stands. They have some great PR on their website about how they've contributed to the development of alternative methods, and that's all good work. But they still don't categorically reject animal testing. There's really no excuse for that – so many companies are able to produce fantastic products that are truly cruelty free. It's about time L'Oreal, which is the biggest cosmetics company in the world, caught up.”

Naturewatch Foundation has organised protests and other actions against L'Oréal.

The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) have launched a Global Movement to Boycott Made in China, "to raise awareness about the atrocities committed by the Communist Party of China." The movement outlines four key reasons for the boycott call.

1. Human rights abuses: "When we buy good manufactured in Communist China, we are innocently contributing to a system that imprisons and oppresses anyone who speaks out".
2. Supporting China's military build up: "Every time a consumer buys a product that is 'Made in China' that money helps finance what is essentially the most rapid build up of an expansionist and aggressive totalitarian regime. In fact, thousands of factories and sweatshops are directly owned and operated by the CCP military."
3. Outbreak of Coronavirus: "China hid facts, destroyed evidence and thus deprived the international community of crucial information during the critical initial period."
4. Intrusion of Chinese troops onto Indian soil: in the Galwan Valley, which resulted in the killing of 20 Indian soldiers.

Tibetan civil society organisations have previously called for a boycott of products made in China in protest against the conditions in which some Chinese manufactured goods are made, "by the millions of prisoners in China's forced labour camps."

Naturewatch Foundation launched a boycott call against Method in April 2018, over the company's links to companies that test products on animals. In December 2017, Method and its sister company Ecover were purchased by SC Johnson, a US company that openly admits to testing on animals and owns other non Naturewatch-endorsed household cleaning brands such as Duck, Shout, Glade, Pledge and Windex.

In January 2023 campaign manager for Animal Experiments at Naturewatch, Natalie Harney, said:

We commend method and Ecover for their personal commitments to being cruelty free, but sadly they've failed to use their influence on their parent company, SC Johnson. For as long as these - and any other brands - maintain direct or indirect links to animal testing, we'll urge compassionate shoppers to leave their products out of their basket.

The boycott has since seen some success with Ecover and Method committing to use their influence to convince SC Johnson to go cruelty-free. However, SC Johnson is yet to do so, and Naturewatch Foundation is asking compassionate consumers to boycott all SC Johnson brands, including Ecover and Method, until the entire company is cruelty-free. Read more about the Method boycott in our feature article.

Nestlé has been the subject of boycott calls around the world since the 1970s for its irresponsible marketing of baby milk formula. It is accused of "contributing to the unnecessary death and suffering of infants" through its aggressive marketing practices, which promote baby milk formula as a superior option to breastfeeding despite evidence to the contrary.

The use of formula has been linked to many issues: from increased prevalence of water-borne diseases, where parents do not have access to clean drinking water, to poverty and malnutrition, due to its high cost. As a result, the World Health Assembly has written a strict International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. Campaign group Baby Milk Action continues to call for a boycott of the company, and published a statement criticising the company’s involvement in Ukraine in March 2022.

Nestlé also faces a boycott call from indigenous rights organisation the Lakota People's Law Project over its extraction of scarce water sources. The organisations say that Nestlé continues "to pump millions of litres of water from watersheds" despite serious droughts in recent years, and "to act beyond the boundaries of ecological protection and basic human dignity."

In November 2021 Ethical Consumer contacted the organisation to confirm the boycott was still active to which it responded “Absolutely. Nestlé is awful and the boycott is on."

The #BoycottPuma campaign was launched by Palestinian athletes in 2018 after 200 Palestinian sports clubs sent a letter to the company urging it to end its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA). The IFA includes teams based in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories. BDS says that "Puma’s sponsorship brings international legitimacy to the IFA’s actions."

The campaign highlights the abusive treatment of Palestinian footballers, who it says are routinely attacked, imprisoned and killed. For example BDS says that Israeli forces shot and killed 18-year-old footballer Thaer Yazouri in May 2022.

In July 2018, Adidas announced that it would no longer be sponsoring the IFA, following an international campaign and a petition of over 16,000 signatures. BDS calls on Puma to follow suit.

On 21 January 2023, Global Puma Day of Action, 235 Palestinian sports team endorsed the campaign and activists worldwide staged protests, including at Puma stores.

Read more about the Puma boycott.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an international trade embargo. On March 7th Zelensky called for “a boycott of Russian exports, in particular the rejection of oil and oil products from Russia.”

Ukraine’s Culture Minister once again called for a boycott of Russia in December 2022.

The Yale School of Management has kept an up-to-date list of companies that have withdrawn from Russia. Over 1000 companies have curtailed operations in Russia, including Airbnb, Asda, Asos, BlackRock, BP, eBay, Netflix, Sainsbury’s, and Spotify to name a few.

At least 30 international sporting federations have also joined the boycott including FIFA, football's global governing body. In addition, a wide range of education, science and research collaborations with Russian institutions have been paused or otherwise affected.

Read more about the Russia boycott in our feature, or on boycottrussia.info or Putin100.org.

Sabra hummus brand is part-owned by The Strauss Group. The Strauss Group is Israel's second biggest food company and has been identified as a target of the BDS movement, which stated: "Sabra hummus is a joint venture between PepsiCo and the Strauss Group, an Israeli food company that provides financial support to the Israel Defense Forces."

Campaigners for Palestinian human rights continue to push for the boycott - for example in February 2022 Harvard University students held a rally calling on the university to stop serving Sabra hummus in its dining halls.

Sabra hummus is sold by retailers in the UK including Sainsburys and Tesco. Sabra is also owned by PepsiCo, which manufactures Sabra products in the USA. Read our article on the Israel boycott here.

In October 2022 the BDS National Committee (BNC) called for a boycott of Siemens, stating that it “calls on supporters of Palestinian rights worldwide to join climate justice movements in holding Chevron and Siemens accountable for helping to fuel environmental destruction and Israeli apartheid”.

One of the reasons for the boycott call is that Siemens won a new contract to connect Israel’s electricity grid with that of the EU (the EuroAsia Interconnector project). It stated that if this contract was implemented it would contribute to the maintenance and expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

It stated “Since these settlements constitute a war crime and have been condemned as a flagrant violation of international law in resolutions by the UN and the EU, the EU and Siemens are violating their respective IHL and human rights obligations by promoting and financing this project”.

The BNC is calling for global consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns until Siemens terminates its business involvement with the EuroAsia Interconnector.

SodaStream has long faced a boycott call over its “complicity in Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian human rights”, according to the BDS movement.

Sodastream faced a global boycott call due to owning a factory in the illegally occupied West Bank. In 2015 after intense public pressure Sodastream closed this factory and left the West Bank.

However, following this success, the BDS movement clarified that it continued to call for a boycott of Sodastream, claiming that its factory in the Nagaq was complicit in the displacement of indigenous Bedoin-Palestinians. BDS also stated, “SodaStream's mistreatment of and discrimination against Palestinian workers is not forgotten either.”

The BDS National Committee told Ethical Consumer:

“Far from reducing its direct contribution to human rights abuses, SodaStream’s factory in the Rahat area in the Naqab (Negev) amounts to conscious participation in Israel’s plans to ethnically cleanse tens of thousands of Bedouin Palestinian citizens of Israel from their ancestral lands.”

In August 2018 Sodastream became part-owned by PepsiCo. The boycott of Sodastream continues.

The UK Boycott Turkey campaign is focused on international solidarity and action against the regime in Turkey, working with Kurdish and Turkish civil society groups.

The campaign highlights institutions and corporations that are complicit in the oppressive policies of the Turkish state. The current regime in Turkey is quick to imprison political opponents who criticise the state or its assaults on Kurds. Academics, journalists and elected politicians are routinely jailed for using their right to free speech.

UK Boycott Turkey are asking consumers to avoid supporting the Turkish government by avoiding taking holidays to Turkey. Turkish holding companies own travel companies and hotels also own arms companies. 

Consumers can also boycott the brands that are intricately tied up with the regime, primarily Beko and Grundig under Koç Holdings. They make a range of white goods such as fridges and freezers, cookers, and washing machines.

Read more about the Turkey boycott call here.

Peta is calling for a boycott of high street clothing brand Urban Outfitters, saying it “sells products that condemn gentle, harmless animals to a lifetime of suffering”. 

“Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People - all owned by Urban Outfitters Inc. - sell numerous animal-derived materials, including wool, cashmere, mohair, leather, down, silk, and alpaca fleece, which are always a product of extreme violence, cruelty, and fear.”

Peta is calling on supporters to tell Urban Outfitters that they will be shopping elsewhere until it commits to selling only vegan materials.

Over 130,000 have signed its petition so far. In September 2022, Peta activists filmed their protest at what they say was a breakfast meeting of Urban Outfitters brand executives.

US fast food chain Wendy’s, which has some branches in the UK, has long faced criticism for refusing to join the Fair Food Program. 

The Fair Food Program was set up by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to address the rampant exploitation of workers in the Florida tomato industry. Burger King, McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell and KFC all joined the programme over a decade ago but Wendy’s has refused to do so.

Several cases of modern day slavery have emerged on farms in the US and Mexico, which has seen campaign calling on Wendy’s to join the program return to the spotlight in 2022.

Over 800 farmworkers and conscious consumers marched to demand Wendy’s join the Fair Food Program and help end modern slavery in the fields on 2 April 2022 in Florida.

Read more about this in our separate article on the Wendy's boycott.

'WTF WWF' is a decentralised campaign co-led by XR Youth Solidarity and members of the Maasai, Baka, Sangwer and Guarani Indigenous communities. It is calling for a boycott of WWF.

WTF WWF says: “Over the last few years there has been an increasing level of exposure around the ongoing human rights abuses and land grabs committed in the name of wildlife conservation by WWF including several investigations. WWF trains, equips, and funds militarised eco-guards who commit human rights atrocities against Indigenous peoples living in and around WWF “protected” areas, and when an independent report into this was leaked, it became clear that WWF had done nothing to stop this happening. WWF also partners with and greenwashes the oil industry, furthering the destruction of ecosystems and communities.”

WTF WWF's open letter has been signed by organisations ranging from Survival International which has long-criticised WWF and the Pan-African Living Cultures Alliance, to individuals including Arturo Escobar.

There has been significant engagement between WWF UK and WTF WWF.

• Read WWF’s independent report into the issues
• View WWF's direct response to WTF WWF’s criticisms, and conversely, WTF WWF's response to this