History of Successful Boycotts

Boycotts have a long and important history of contributing to progressive social change, as well as succeeding in their more immediate goals.

One of the earliest examples was the boycott in England of sugar produced by slaves. In 1791, after Parliament refused to abolish slavery, thousands of pamphlets were printed encouraging the boycott. Sales of sugar dropped by between a third and a half.

By contrast sales of Indian sugar, untainted by slavery, rose tenfold in two years. In an early example of fair trade, shops began selling sugar guaranteed to be have been produced by 'free men'. 

Recent examples of successful boycott campaigns:

2023

June: A boycott of G4S was called by the BDS movement in 2012. Among many other criticisms of the company, reasons listed included that it helped operate prisons at which Palestinian political prisoners were held without trial and subjected to torture, and providing equipment and services to illegal Israeli settlements, the apartheid Wall, military and holding a stake in the consortium that operated Israel's police academy. Several high profile divestments from G4S took place over the years, with the company finally making the commitment in June 2023 to sell all its remaining business in apartheid Israel.

August: According to World Animal Protection (WAP), Klook, a global travel company, published an animal welfare policy in August 2023 and will no longer sell tickets to circuses, shows, performances, and animal photo experiences. It was previously named as a boycott target by WAP, alongside other companies such as Groupon. The campaign group says "Though the policy is not perfect, this is a huge win toward ending wildlife cruelty in the tourism industry!"

December: The Boycott Puma 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. 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.  On 12 December 2023 Puma announced that it would end its sponsorship of the IFA the following year. While Puma claimed the decision was unrelated to the boycott call, the BDS movement called it a "BDS win", saying "This boycott win is a bittersweet victory as Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians continues. But it gives us hope and determination to hold all genocide enablers and apartheid supporters accountable until all Palestinians can live in freedom, justice and equality."

2022

JANUARY: In 2021 Hunt Saboteurs UK called for a boycott of AXA for providing legal fee insurance to The Hunting Office (the body responsible for the administration of hunting across the UK). In January 2022 AXA UK&I tweeted to say it did not provide insurance to the hunting industry. In February it tweeted to say that AXA UK&I does “not provide insurance to The Hunting Office.” HuntSabs responded by saying “Could it be that @axainsurance have ditched the hunts?” Unless an international branch of AXA is providing services to the UK Hunting Office (which seems unlikely), it looks like we can tentatively celebrate this as a success for HuntSabs – not to mention the foxes and other free animals!

APRIL: The UK's first-ever international government-organised LGBT+ conference was cancelled in April after more than 100 organisations committed to boycotting the event. LGBT+ charities and other groups pulled out of the conference "Safe To Be Me" to express opposition to the government's stance on conversion therapy. The government excluded transgender conversion therapy from a ban that was implemented under the Boris Johnson government, despite demands by LGBT+ organisations for this ban to include not only sexual orientations but also gender identity.

JUNE: Peta announced that Air France would ban the transport of monkeys as soon as its existing contract ended, following a campaign that spanned 10 years. Peta began the boycott call in 2012, and it continued up until 2022 when Air France was the only known major European airline still shipping monkeys to laboratories for experimentation, on journeys that could last over 30 hours. The campaign involved demonstrations around the globe, on-flight protests, discussions with the company’s leadership, shareholder activism, disruption of executives’ speeches, and bold advertisements like billboards at airports. Celebrities from Dr Jane Goodall to Peter Gabriel got behind the campaign.

JUNE: General Mills, parent company of Pillsbury, sold its stake in its joint venture in Israel following years of BDS pressure over its manufacturing of products in an illegal Israeli settlement called Atarot. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) called for a boycott of Pillsbury in 2020, as did activists, human rights groups, and even members of the Pillsbury family itself. The UN had named the company in its list of companies in violation of Palestinian rights in February 2020. General Mills did not cite these criticisms in its announcement that it had sold its stake, but the BDS National Committee says the move is a victory for BDS.

OCTOBER: Peta had called for a boycott of House of Fraser since 2020 over its sale of fur from animals such as rabbits and racoons. Peta asked people to write to the company and declare that they would boycott it, and protests took place co-organised by organisations such as Peta UK, Four Paws UK, and Humane Society International in London. In October 2023 the campaign group announced that the company had decided to ban the sale of fur across all of its brands including House of Fraser, Flannels and Sports Direct. One memorable Christmas protest includes activists singing “12 Days of Cruelty” outside a store front. Over 150,000 people urged the company to drop fur as part of the campaign.

2021

JANUARY: Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s Twitter account in January 2021 to prevent ‘Further incitement of violence’, following the storming of the US Capitol government buildings. 

The decision followed online pressure led by Stop Hate for Profit, which took to social media in the week following the uprising demanding that the platform #BanTrumpForDemocracy. The campaign stated in January that it would call for an advertising boycott of any social media platforms that failed to ban Trump before the presidential inauguration on January 20th. Trump was also suspended from Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

FEBRUARY: Following a decade-long PETA campaign, Fortnum & Mason decided to stop selling foie gras. PETA says the campaign involved thousands of letters, adverts on the London Underground, and colourful protests (such as a giant ‘goose’ crashing into the shop front, with a crime scene then set up around it with chalk outlines of dead geese). MP Caroline Lucas, Bill Oddie, Twiggy and more high profile figures got behind the campaign. 

Fortnum & Mason is a high-end department store with sites across London and Hong Kong, and has worldwide stockists. Foie gras is a 'luxury' food, made from the liver of geese or ducks who were specially fattened through the force-feeding of corn using a tube. Their livers swell up to ten times their normal size, pressing against the birds’ lungs and causing difficulty breathing. 

FEBRUARY: Kirin was criticised for years for its ties with the Myanmar military, having maintained partnerships with state entities following the killings of thousands of Muslim-minority Rohingya people. The International Campaign for the Rohingya (IRC) called for a boycott of Kirin Group.

On 5 February 2021 Kirin announced it would terminate its partnership with the business “Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited”. Read more in our feature article on Kirin.

MAY: Thousands of #StopFundingHate supporters took action in early 2021, urging supermarkets, banks and phone companies not to advertise with two new proposed ‘Fox news style’ TV channels in Britain that would showcase divisive media content. Rupert Murdoch had planned to develop ‘News UK’, but it was announced in April that this was not commercially viable and therefore would not go ahead. Unfortunately, GB News, the second proposed channel headed by Andrew Neil, launched in June 2021.

JUNE: After years of campaigning by Peta, Canada Goose announced it would stop selling fur by the end of 2021. Protests surrounding its sale of fur included exposes, celebrity actions, and legal battles. 

Peta’s boycott of Canada Goose called for the company to stop selling both fur and feathers. Following the move away from fur, Peta suspended its campaigns against Canada Goose and stated it would be “re-engaging with the company to push for an end to its use of feathers”.

JULY: After nearly 10 years of campaigning by Palestinian human rights activists, Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop selling ice cream in grocery stores in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. It announced, “We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

Campaign group Vermonters for Justice in Palestine (VTPJ) spearheaded the boycott call. The campaign also involved meetings with Ben & Jerry’s management, appeals to recipients of Ben & Jerry’s Foundation grant, and petitions.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement tweeted “Following years of #BDS campaigns @benandjerrys has announced it will end sales of its ice cream in Israel's illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. We warmly welcome their decision but call on Ben & Jerry's to end all operations in apartheid Israel.”

However, some controversy has arisen after parent company Unilever overruled Ben & Jerry's decision: visit the Boycotts List for latest updates

DECEMBER: In June 2021 the International Campaign for the Rohingya called for a boycott of jewellery company Harry Winston and its owner, Swatch, stating “Because it dominates Burma's gemstone industry, the Myanmar military profits when high-end jewellery retailers – like Harry Winston (owned by Swatch) – buy Burmese gems for their collections.”

As part of the campaign Londoners made appointments at the company’s swanky stores, requested to see jewellery containing rubies, then explained that they would never shop there as long as it bought gems that fund the Myanmar military.

According to the campaign website, Harry Winston announced it would “will no longer source gemstones from its suppliers that have Burmese origins” on the same day that the campaign group in collaboration with No Business with Genocide handed the company a petition with over 25,000 signatures demanding the company cut ties with Burmese gemstones.

2020

MARCH: In 2020 Mexico’s president cancelled the construction permits and water rights held by brewing company Constellation Brands, Mexico. Campaign group Mexicali Resiste called for a boycott of Constellation Brands in 2018, after it gained access to the desert region’s drinking-water supply in what the campaign group called “shady, undocumented” deals.

The company’s beer factory was predicted to drain up to 20% of the city’s annual water supply. The government’s decision to cancel the water rights and construction permits was seen as a victory for grassroots campaigners. According to L.A.Taco, a Los Angeles news platform, the government decision caused Constellation Brands’ stock to plummet 11 percent.

APRIL: During the coronavirus pandemic, JD Wetherspoons pub chain said it would delay paying wages until it received government support - which would mean paying staff almost five weeks late. The announcement triggered a public outcry led by workers and the Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union (BFAW) and caused #BoycottWetherspoons to trend on Twitter. 95 MPs added their criticism, writing to the company’s owner Tim Martin to express their concern. The company did a U-turn and promised to pay wages weekly.

APRIL: Following a BBC Panorama which exposed how seriously ill dogs were being sold from a puppy warehouse in Manchester called Dogs4Us, a campaign group was launched called “Boycott Dogs4Us”. The warehouse was said to buy from cruel puppy farms and then sold them to the public. Boycott Dogs4Us held protests outside parliament calling for a ban on the sale of puppies in pet shops and gained the support of several politicians.

On 6 April 2020 Lucy’s Law was introduced in England, the results of many years of campaigning by a range of animal rights organisations, which put an end to the sale of puppies in pet shops.

JUNE: According to Time magazine, the model Munroe Bergdorf called for a boycott of L’Oreal based on its approach to issues of racial justice. Bergdorf claims that her contract with L’Oreal was terminated in 2017 after she discussed “racial violence of white people” on social media following a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

L’Oreal is quoted as having said that Bergdorf’s comments were “at odds” with its support for “diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion.” 

During the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in summer 2020, L’Oreal made statements in support of anti-racist protests and Bergdorf highlighted the hypocrisy of this. The brand expressed regret for its actions and she was invited to become a consultant on L’Oreal’s UK diversity and inclusion board.

2019

MAY: Brunei announced that it would not impose the death penalty for those convicted of having anal sex, following boycott calls. The decision followed international condemnation of the country’s decision to roll out strict laws making anal sex, adultery and rape punishable by stoning to death.

Celebrities such as Elton John and George Clooney had called for a boycott of the Dorchester Collection, a chain of hotels owned by the Sultan of the country, which includes The Dorchester and 45 Park Lane in London.1 Several large companies including JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank followed suit, telling their staff to avoid Brunei-owned hotels in the wake of the new laws.

2018

JANUARY: The Body Shop successfully ended, after the company's owner declared itself cruelty-free. Natura, which bought the high-street chain in 2017, announced a clear animal testing policy after hundreds of consumers wrote to the company. Naturewatch lifted the boycott call, after 11 years of campaigning, and has invited both Natura and The Body Shop to join its list for cruelty-free cosmetics brands.

(Update: In December 2021 Naturewatch informed us that Natura & Co purchased an arm of Avon in early 2020. Since then, they have not been able to reconfirm the animal testing policy for all of Natura & Co brands. Naturewatch therefore no longer endorses Natura in its Compassionate Shopping Guide, which highlights companies that have stringent policies against animal testing.)

FEBRUARY: Multiple companies cut ties with the NRA, following boycott calls.

• Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Hertz, Budget, Avis, Best Western and Wyndham Hotels all stated that they would no longer offer discounts or other special offers for NRA members. 
• The insurer Chubb dropped cover for NRA Carry Guard insurance.
• Enterprise Rent–A–Car announced that is was severing ties.
• First National Bank of Omaha stated that it would end a Visa credit card it offered with NRA branding.

The companies all faced boycotts for their links to the NRA after the association called for teachers to be armed and spoke out against student gun control activists, in the wake of the Parkland high school shooting.

JULY: Trump was the target of the Grab Your Wallet campaign, which called for a boycott of Trump and companies supporting him over his approach to issues like climate change and discrimination. The boycott call ended in November 2020. According to the campaign website the campaign was “credited with over 70 large companies cutting financial ties with the Trump administration” including Nordstrom, Disney and Pepsi. The boycott call is said to have resulted in Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand closing down. 

The Irish Senate approved a bill that would ban the import of goods from the Palestinian occupied territories. If the bill passes Ireland’s lower house it will set a precedent within the EU. The Act will prohibit “trade with and economic support for illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law”, which would make Ireland the first EU country to introduce a national boycott of Israeli-settlement goods. The bill does not name Israel but instead refers to “occupying powers” and “illegal settlements” – both terms that the Israeli settlement fulfil under UN law. 

Freedom for Animals ran a campaign in 2014 titled ‘Sea Lies’, which called for a boycott of all Merlin Entertainment brands due to their treatment of captive animals in their aquariums. In particular it called for the company to retire its whales. According to the campaign’s 2013 investigation, Sea Life aquariums took animals from the wild to populate its aquariums, and its parent company Merlin was found to have purchased other aquariums that held dolphins or whales in confined conditions. After intense public pressure, in July 2018 Sea Life announced it was building a beluga whale sanctuary in Iceland for the whales.

SEPTEMBER: Burberry announces that it will join Armani, Versace, Gucci, Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, and others in banning fur after a long-running boycott campaign from animal rights group PETA.

DECEMBER: HSBC announced that it had fully divested from the Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit Systems, known for selling weapons to the Israeli military used in attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Elbit Systems has been the target of a long-running divestment campaign for supplying surveillance systems and other technology to Israel’s Separation Wall and settlements in the West Bank as well as for the US-Mexico boarder. The company has also manufactured the white phosphorous and artillery systems that can be used for cluster munitions. More than 24,000 War on Want supporters emailed HSBC asking the company to end its investments in Elbit Systems and other arms companies selling to the Israeli military.

Cartier pledged to stop buying gems from Myanmar and gemstone exports from the country fell 65% during the course of 2017. Human rights activists called for jewellers to boycott gemstones mined in Myanmar, which are funding the country’s military.

Myanmar’s military dominates the country’s gemstone industry, with military-affiliated companies controlling distribution of licensing and permits and running gem auctions that raise hundreds of millions of dollars. The long-running campaign, led by SumofUS and The International Campaign for the Rohingya, responds to the military’s attacks on communities of Rohingya Muslims in the country.

2017

JULY: Picturehouse agreed to negotiate with its workers' trade union BECTU, following strikes and a consumer boycott of the cinema chain. The company had previously refused to meet with the union, which workers said it would not recognise.

SEPTEMBER: Local councils' right to boycott was upheld by the UK's High Court. In November 2015, the government announced new legislation that would black local councils from divesting their pension funds, for example for climate change, or human rights reasons. The legislation was challenged by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, War on Want, Campaign against Arms Trade, and Quakers as well as individuals and trade unions. 

NOVEMBER: Boots dropped the price of its own-brand emergency contraceptive pill, after the British Pregnancy Advisory Service threatened to call a boycott of the company. Boots had previously said that it would not drop the price, in line with other retailers, because it did not 'want to be accused of incentivising inappropriate use'. 

2016

JANUARY:  The United Methodist Church, a Protestant denomination that numbers over seven million members, said it will not invest in the five banks for financing "settlement activity" over the 1949 Armistice lines.

The five banks to be boycotted by the church's pension board are:

•     Bank Hapoalim,
•     Bank Leumi,
•     First International Bank of Israel,
•     Israel Discount Bank and
•     Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot.

Colette Nies, a spokeswoman for the pension board, said that the guideline, approved by the board in 2014 and carried out last year, applied to 14 different regions around the world, including the Middle East.

MARCH: Seaworld have announced that they will end all ocra breeding programmes this year, making this generation of captive orcas the last to be kept in SeaWorld's tanks. They will also phase out of orca whale shows in all the parks. 

This is a huge victory for animal rights campaigners and follows pressure from numerous campaign groups including PETA and the Captive Animals' Protection Society from the UK. 

2015 

MAY: Global security services giant G4S provides services to Israeli prisons in which human rights campaigners have documented systematic torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners. In 2015, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sold its stake in G4S. 

JUNE: After its AGM in June 2015 was severely disrupted by protesters, G4S announced that it will end its Israeli prison contracts in the next three years. 

The United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination in the USA with around a million members, unanimously approved an Israel divestment resolution in June. Their General Synod voted 508-124 in favour.

Reverend James Moos, executive minister of UCC Wider Church Ministries and co-executive of Global Ministries, told Business Insider that the vote was representative of the church’s commitment to peace in the Middle East.

“The United Church of Christ condemns all forms of violence and anti-Semitism, and affirms Israel’s right to exist within secure and internationally recognized borders,” Moos said in a statement. “We similarly assert the right of Palestinians to have a sovereign, independent and viable state within secure and recognized borders.”

AUGUST: French multinational Veolia, which was involved in the Jerusalem light railway, which connects Jerusalem to illegal Israeli settlements, sold all its holdings. It also operates a landfill site in the occupied Jordan Valley which takes waste from Israel (in violation of international law) and formerly ran settler-only bus routes in the West Bank.

2015: Sodastream faced a global boycott call from the BDS movement due to owning a factory in an illegally occupied Israeli settlement in Palestine, in the West Bank. After intense public pressure Sodastream closed this factory. However, following this success, BDS clarified that it continues to call for a boycott of Sodastream, claiming that its factory in the Nagaq was complicit in the displacement of indigenous Bedoin-Palestinians - read more on our Boycotts List.

In 2013, Veolia stopped its settlement bus services and in August 2015 sold its remaining stakes in the Jerusalem light railway.

2014

JANUARY: The biggest Dutch pension fund, PGGM, announced it would withdraw its investments from Israel’s five largest banks because of their operations in settlements and/or financing of construction in the settlements. 

JULY: Palestinian solidarity activists were celebrated in July 2014 after a double victory over SodaStream, a company with facilities in the occupied West Bank.
 

First came the news that SodaStream was closing its flagship eco-store in Brighton. This was followed a day later by a decision from John Lewis to stop stocking SodaStream products.

Nestlé agreed to stop promoting its baby-milk formula as the ‘natural start’, after pressure from the Baby Milk Action boycott campaign.

2013

Good Energy stopped using G4S as a supplier of meter reading services following pressure from consumers. G4S were under a boycott call due to their activities in the occupied territories in Palestine.

2012

Mini Babybel offered an apology and withdrew a number of products after disability campaigners called for a boycott of their cheese after the company ran a marketing campaign that used the phrase ‘Mentally ill holidays’. 

Following a short sustained campaign by activists around the country, fashion chain Flannels announced it would stop selling fur products.

DaitoCrea, the Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories agent in Japan, announced that they would no longer be distributing Ahava products. The decision was the direct result of a concerted campaign by the Palestine Forum Japan starting in 2010 to educate DaitoCrea and Japanese consumers about Ahava’s practices.

Johnson & Johnson reformulated all of its baby products to remove a formaldehyde-releasing preservative. This move occurred in response to a report and boycott call from the US Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) over the company’s use of harmful chemicals in its baby shampoo. 

2010

The John Lewis Partnership has taken a stand against mulesing. In a letter to campaign group PETA they said, “John Lewis... will require all suppliers of  merino wool products to satisfy us, through declarations, that the wool used in their products comes from non-mulesed sources”.

Nestlé gave in to pressure from Greenpeace and promised a zero deforestation policy in its palm oil supply chain. After just 8 weeks of intense campaigning and meetings with the company Nestle came come up with what Greenpeace described as a “comprehensive policy” that will be monitored by the Forest Trust.

Nearly 1.5m saw Greenpeace’s spoof Kit Kat advert, over 200,000 emails were sent and activists demonstrated at Nestlé HQs worldwide. Greenpeace said “We didn’t expect Nestlé to come up with this policy so quickly.

The company also agreed to stop claiming its formula is The new “Gold Standard” in infant nutrition after receiving thousands of emails from Baby Milk Action boycott supporters.

Fruit of the Loom crumbled in the face of pressure from the largest ever student boycott. In an incredible about-face the company re-opened a Honduran factory it had closed after workers had unionised. Furthermore, it also gave all 1,200 employees their jobs back, awarded them $2.5 million in compensation and restored all union rights.

The campaign started in 2009 when United Students Against Sweatshops started a campaign that led to 96 US colleges severing their contracts with the company. Ten British universities followed suit. The campaign was estimated to have cost the company $50million.

Reyna Dominguez, who worked at the factory, told New Internationalist that “without this pressure the company would never have come to the negotiating table. There has never been an agreement like this in Honduras or the world.”

2009  

AUGUST: Kimberly-Clark announced a new paper procurement policy that would reduce its impact on ancient forest in North America that were being destroyed for tissue brands such as Kleenex and Andrex. You can read more about the successfull Greenpeace campaign here.

2008

MAY: Donna Karan and the DKNY brand are no longer on our boycott list because of a welcome campaign success from the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops and the Chinese Staff and Workers Association. US workers in supplier factories came to a settlement with the company over their claims of discrimination and failure to pay minimum wages or overtime.

2007

MAY: The De Beers boycott has been called off by Survival International after the company sold its diamond deposit at Gope on the lands of the Kalahari Bushmen. The Bushmen have been forced from their ancestral homelands.The campaign had made Gope ‘a problematic asset for De Beers’.

Whether there is a just outcome for the Bushmen remains to be seen. De Beers sold the Gope deposit to Gem Diamonds for $34 million and will not benefit from the estimated $2.2 billion-worth of diamonds there.

New owners Gem Diamonds says it is currently formulating its policy regarding allowing the Bushmen back onto their land and obtaining free and informed consent before mining goes ahead. Survival is monitoring progress.

2006

JUNE: The Burma Campaign UK announced that sustained pressure had led to Austrian Airlines, Eastravel and FromersGuides joining the growing exodus of companies ending their promotion of tourism to Burma. Austrian Airlines subsidiary Lauda Air was the only airline in Europe with direct flights to Burma, and the regime had welcomed the flights, hoping they would boost tourism and investment.

Gill Clothing formally pledged to stop sourcing from Burma.

2005

JULY: The Captive Animals’ Protection Society (CAPS) claimed that the Automobile Association(AA) had told them “no wild captive animals will feature in future AA advertising.” This was in response to a customer furore, following an AA ad featuring Anne, an elderly Asian elephant on loan from Bobby Roberts Circus.

AUGUST: Snow+Rock announced it would no longer be selling real fur garments following a campaign by Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT). The managing director, Dion Taylor, said: “We feel there are enough man made equivalents to satisfy the needs of our customers.” More info on CAFT's other campaigns on 0845 330 7955.

Aon Corporation informed the Burma Campaign UK it intended to terminate all business in Burma. The company had appeared on the Burma Campaign's ‘Dirty List’ of companies directly or indirectly funding the regime in Burma. The campaign group welcomed the decision: “Aon have acted responsibly by ending their involvement in Burma,” said Director John Jackson.

OCTOBER: The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT) stated that Inditex Group, which owned fashion chain Zara, had decided to withdraw fur from all the group's 2,064 stores in 52 countries. The fur was phased out over a period of several weeks and Inditex ceased sale of fur in its shops from 31 December 2004.

Inditex stated in a letter to its customers that a formal policy had been established and as of 1st January 2005 no fur was to be used in Inditex Group clothes or other products. The policy was announced 3 days before a planned international day of action against Zara.

Nike became the first in its industry to publish a full list of suppliers, five-years after the end of a boycott call against it following claims that it was not responsible for the notoriously poor working conditions in its supply chain.

2004

MARCH: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) confirmed its decision to pull out of Burma. The company had featured on Burma Campaign UK's boycott list of companies directly or indirectly funding the regime in Burma.

MARCH: The Stop Staples Campaign declared victory following the office-supply giant’s announcement that it would meet the campaign’s goal of moving the company towards environmentally-preferable paper sales.

Staples pledged to achieve an average of 30% post consumer recycled content across all paper products it sold. It also pledged to phase out purchases of paper products from endangered forests, create an environmental affairs division and to report annually on its environmental results. More information. 

SEPTEMBER: In response to a three-year Animal Aid campaign, Focus pledged to end the sale of all animals, including fish, in its stores throughout the UK. The massive DIY chain promised that animal sales would stop over the next two years.
 

OCTOBER: Marine campaign group Oceana's boycott of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd led to the company installing Advanced Wastewater Purification technology (AWP) on all its ships. Oceana campaigns Triumph International was the subject of a boycott call over its manufacturing operations in Burma. The company announced that it would be closing down its Burma-based manufacturing site, located on a military-owned industrial estate north of Rangoon. The company had been listed on the Burma Campaign UK 'Dirty List'.
 

APRIL: The Focus store group announced to Animal Aid that it was to cease the sale of all birds and small mammals. Animal Aid began its Focus campaign in February 2000, originally concentrating on the company’s sale of reptiles. Following hundreds of demonstrations at the company’s stores around the country, Focus' reptile sales ended in October 2000.

2003

Nestlé announced that it would stop promoting complementary baby foods from before 6 months of age, nine years after The World Health Assembly adopted the same Resolution in 1994, during a week of campaigning by the Baby Milk Action Boycott.

2002

APRIL: The four year boycott run by the National Anti-Hunt Campaign (NAHC) over John Lewis'staff pheasant shoots finally ended in victory, with the closure of the company's Shooting Club. The campaign gained a higher profile in 2000 when Animal Aid added its voice and membership capacity to the boycott.

The NAHC/Animal Aid victory comes despite John Lewis trying 'every trick in the book' according to NAHC's Niel Hansen, including libel writs and attempting to have one campaigner jailed for distributing leaflets on company property.

2000

APRIL: Following a long campaign of protest, Mitsubishi surprised campaigners by announcing that it was pulling out of an industrial salt project in Mexico for environmental reasons. The project to extract salt from sea water in evaporation ponds was to be located in a World Heritage Site - the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve. Potentially covering 116 square miles, it threatened a breeding ground for whales and other endangered species.

A 'Mitsubishi: Don't Buy It' campaign was launched, more than 40 Californian cities passed resolutions condemning the company, and over 700,000 letters of objection were sent. Homero Aridjis, one of the campaign's leaders was reported as saying: "It has been a tough fight for five years with one of the richest corporations in the world and the Mexican government."

NOVEMBER: Baby Milk Action and its Nestlé boycott campaign work with Richard Howitt MEP on the first public hearing into corporate malpractice held by the European Parliament’s Development Committee, examining Nestlé and Adidas' practices.

Nike committed to independently monitored social audits across its supply chain and began publishing audit details on its website, after a boycott call caused its revenues to fall by 16% and its share price to drop by 57%. The boycott call followed claims from the company that the notoriously poor conditions in its supply chain were not its responsibility.