Top 10 boycotts

Recently we’ve seen more and more conversations about boycotting: from questions over whether we should avoid products made in China, to the importance of the BDS campaign for Palestinian rights. 

We sent our readers a survey to find out who they are boycotting. 

Here's a list of the top 10 companies, countries or products that they say they are currently boycotting.

1. Amazon

83% of readers are joining us in our boycott of Amazon.

We’ve been boycotting Amazon over their egregious tax avoidance since 2012.

Amazon recently announced that in 2020 it paid no corporation tax despite making a sales income of €44billion in Europe.

Find out more and join the campaign:

2. Nestlé

28% of readers have joined the world’s longest running boycott.

Baby Milk action first called a boycott of Nestlé in 1977, and since then the global boycott campaign has targeted the company over the aggressive sale and marketing of formula to new mothers.

4. China

12% of respondents said that they were boycotting China, mainly over their treatment of the Uyghur minority.

The human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese state are numerous, and many are linked to global corporations and products sold around the world. Increasingly people are asking should we boycott ‘made in China’?

We explore the question through the cases of China’s abuses in Tibet, Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in our latest feature.

5. Tesco

8% specified Tesco as a boycott target, but if you add in those that said they were boycotting all supermarkets this figure rises to 10%.

Supermarkets often score badly on our rating system, and many readers will remember the Tescopoly campaign of the early 2000’s, which called for a boycott of the company due to their rapid expansion.

Recently they have faced pressure over deforestation across Brazil for meat.

7. Coca-Cola

6% of readers are boycotting the infamous soft drinks company.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke has called for a boycott of the company, following claims that it had been involved in the murders of union leaders at its factories in South America, and in other instances of violence, intimidation and workers' rights abuses. 

Coca-Cola was accused of paying Colombian paramilitaries who murdered nine union members at its bottling plants. The campaign website also lists reports of the company ordering serious anti-union violence at Turkish and Guatemalan plants.

8. Plastics

Plastics of one variety or another (including disposables and plastic toys) were mentioned by 5% of responders.

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now estimated to be three times the size of France, with 46% of it composed of discarded nets and other kinds of fishing gear.

Aside from the environment, plastic could be affecting the health of humans and other animals. The WWF found that the average person ingests the equivalent of a credit card of plastic every week.

9. Asda

Asda received 4% of the votes (rising to 7.5% if you also count those who said they were boycotting all supermarkets).

While the company isn’t under any specific boycott calls, they score (and have scored) consistently poorly in our ratings tables. They sit near the bottom of the supermarkets guide with a score of zero.

More mentions

There were many other companies mentioned by readers as targets for their own boycotting. These included:

Google, Boots, Barclays, Sports Direct, Cadburys, Facebook, Primark, H&M, Zara, HSBC, Apple, Wetherspoons, Shell, Dyson, Starbucks, Unilever, McDonalds and more.

Other themes mentioned included fast fashion, products tested on animals, banks that invest in fossil fuels, GM foods and all companies with a low ethiscore.

We should also say that some people were boycotting a number of things. This included one dedicated reader who told us that they boycotted, “Nestlé, Coke, Pepsi. All companies (especially cosmetic companies) that do not have a proven track record of not testing on animals for any ingredients in their products. I particularly boycott large unethical corporations that buy small ethical companies then trade on their good reputation, effectively deceiving the public.”

Thanks to all those that took part. The results are based on 693 responses.