Boycotts

Boycott - A boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.

Here are some examples:

Animal Testing

A number of companies were on the list because of a boycott call from BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) over animal testing. BUAV no longer call for the boycotting of specific companies, but instead encourage people to buy from those companies that are accredited as 'cruelty-free' under the Humane Cosmetics Standard. None of the following companies, which we have formally removed from the list, have signed up to the standard: Colgate Palmolive; Procter and Gamble; Reckitt Benckiser; SC Johnson; and Unilever.

Adidas for using kangaroo skin to make some types of football boots.

BBC Worldwide

In June 2008 Burma Campaign UK updated its 'dirty list' of companies that are directly or indirectly helping to finance Burma’s brutal military dictatorship. BBC Worldwide, the commericial arm of the BBC, was added due to its 75% stake in Lonely Planet travel guides. Lonely Planet vigorously defends its publication of a guide to Burma, despite Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement's call for tourists to stay away. Tourism is a vital source of income to the military junta. According to Burma Campaign UK, BBC Worldwide maintains that Lonely Planet will continue to publish its Burma guidebook.