An effort to encourage US consumers To participate in a protest day not spending money on Friday He has collected impulse online, with thousands of people on social networks saying that they plan to participate in the “economic blackout.”
It started about a month ago by John Schwarz, an educator of medicines and full attention from the Chicago area, the idea has taken off on social networks, where the term surface hundreds of publications of people who share infographic screenshots and encourage others and encourage others to participate in the protest are looking for the term surface. Google’s search data shows that consultations for the “economic blackout” have increased in recent days.
“Do not buy things on February 28,” the author published Stephen King in Bluesky. “Money is the only thing D —- understand.”
The actors John Leguizamo and Bette Midler have shared similar feelings in recent days to their social media accounts.
The call to action or inaction in this case, It occurs as the prices of essential elements such as groceries continue to increase, the real estate market remains frozen and the US credit card debt. UU. It has reached a record. In addition to these problems, a consumer confidence report recently registered its strongest decrease since August 2021.
Schwarz, who did not respond to requests for comments, also recently created a website for protest effort, the US Popular Union, to essentially unionize the people of the working class throughout the country.
In several videos published online, Schwarz said that his campaign is a non -partisan attempt of economic resistance against corporate greed, political corruption and economic exploitation.
As part of the protest effort, Schwarz is asking buyers to stop all non -essential online purchases and stores. If people must spend, he said, they must channel their dollars to only small and local companies. You are also urging people to take the day free of work if possible.
Since he began promoting the idea of a 24 -hour economic blackout, Schwarz has won hundreds of thousands of new followers in Tiktok and Instagram, according to the Social Network Analysis website Blade.
“This is not just a protest. This is our warning shot. For too long, corporations have treated the American people as an endless source of profits, ”Schwarz said in a video on Monday. “Prices increase because they can. They pay the workers the minimum while obtaining record gains. They also press politicians to maintain the manipulated system in their favor. But what fear most? It is we “.
The economic analyst Mark Hamrick said that he has observed a growing public awareness of the inequality of wealth and income, promoted by what he called “the financing of the economy, where essentially the interests of the shareholders are prioritized over the interests of the interested parties.”
Still, Retail analyst Neil Saunders said that translating traction online into action could be difficult.
“You can get enough support to have a small impact on the day itself, but in the scheme of all expenses that occur in the economy of the United States, it is unlikely to create a great hole,” Saunders wrote in an email, and added that many consumers will probably only differ their expenses the next day.
After the initial 24 -hour blackout, the Popular Union has scheduled additional boycots of a week of specific companies throughout the year, aimed at Amazon, Nestlé, Walmart, General Mills, Target and McDonald’s. Another 24 -hour general economic blackout is also scheduled for April 18.
The representatives of Amazon, Nestlé, Walmart, General Mills, Target and McDonald’s did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Thursday.
The online movement has echoes of the Occupy Wall Street movement that exploded in 2011, a culmination of public discontent and distrust in corporations after the economic recession of 2008. However, the programmed inaction is a contrast to the Occupy movement, which caused the protesters to flood the streets for months to mobilize against economic inequality and corruption.
Schwarz’s campaign insists that it is not political, and does not explicitly mention the generalized cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which have been increased following the rhetoric of conservative experts and recent directives of the Trump administration. Even so, many online have requested the most directed boycott of the brands that have reduced their efforts from Dei.
Several political organizations have added their support to the planned blackout on Friday, specifically citing the reversal of the initiatives ofi. (These initiatives, which generally include policies aimed at guaranteeing a fair treatment of people of different origins, have become a point of cultural inflammation as the Trump administration describes them as “discriminatory” and anti-mérito).
“We encourage members to avoid buying anything that day unless it is from a small local business,” said the Voting League of Colorado Women on Instagram. “Especially avoid large companies that are going back or eliminating their dei programs, including Target, Walmart, McDonald’s and Amazon.”
The main companies such as Walmart, Lowe’s, Ford and Toyota were the first to mark their Dei programs at the end of last year, particularly after social media campaigns for influential people such as Robby Starbuck, who reported last week that Pepsico was one of the last to follow his example.
Companies from all over the country had promised broad support for diversity efforts after the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police in 2020 to initiate a national social justice movement. But President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders against Dei in his first weeks in office, some of whom have faced legal obstacles as civil rights organizations demanded and a federal judge blocked their administration to end the subsidies related to the DEI.
Last month, Target also said that he will finish his three -year Dei goals, stop reports to external groups focused on diversity such as the Human Rights Campaign Index and finish a program focused on bringing more minority business products or other minority companies.
The measure attracted the immediate calls for a boycott, since buyers urged each other to change at Costco, which is among the companies that have expressed intentions to continue their diversity efforts. Comments on the latest Target social networks have been filled with Costco mentions, since users respond that they are “[w]Stunning this while eats a hot dog costco “or that” they would rather buy in Costco! “
The boycott on Friday coincides with the continuous movement of “Latin freezing”, which similarly describes itself as a non -partisan base effort “advocating that daily purchases are made with US companies that support the Latin community.” Its website describes it as a response to the erosion of Dei’s efforts in a variety of industries, as well as the “growing fear and marginalization of our immigrant communities” as the Trump administration refers to immigration.
The Latin Freeze campaign urges people to buy only essential and avoid important purchases while supporting local companies or businesses that support Dei and Immigrant communities. It provides lists of the main retailers who have demonstrated commitments with Dei, as well as lists of those who have reduced such initiatives.
“We encourage all consumers to explore the information provided and make their own informed decisions about which companies align with their values and priorities,” says the movement on their website. “The choice to support or interact with any company depends completely on the individual consumer.”
Hamrick, the economic analyst, said that any visible impact of large -scale boycott campaigns would probably require more consistency, which is difficult to achieve when many people in the United States depend on chain corporations for their daily purchases.
“If there were a more substantial and sustained movement to buy stores, aimed at private companies, that could gain some impulse,” said Hamrick. “One of the challenges is that there are not many options out there. In other words, how many entities can you do business with which they fit this description for a long period of time? And the answer is that there are not many. “
