Like many conservatives that have disdained calling for mass boycotts of companies that we disagree with, I believe that people should chose for themselves on where to shop, what to watch and what to participate in. However, I’m starting to rethink that stance.
One of my favorite columnists at Townhall is John Hawkins. His latest piece is titled ‘If Conservatives Want To Change America, We Need To Embrace Boycotts.’ Hawkins writes:
“Liberals have already co-opted Hollywood and our education system; so it’s no secret that the deck is stacked against conservatives in America. However, liberals have also started to pull corporate America to the Left as well. The world’s most powerful corporations are standing against mom and pop Christian bakeries that don’t want to participate in gay weddings and threatening states that don’t want grown men using the bathroom with little girls. While corporations tend to favor whichever politician is in power, they are much more likely to give money to overtly liberal groups than conservative ones. Even ESPN, the all sports network, has a liberal bent. Politically, you can say anything if it’s to the left of center, but Curt Schilling was fired for having a conservative point of view.
…
That’s why corporations bend over backwards to make liberals happy while they’re indifferent to offending Christians. The squeaky wheel gets the grease while those who suffer in silence are ignored.”
A good example of why boycotts can work comes in the wake of North Carolina’s “bathroom bill,” which led Target to make its controversial declaration on where it stands on the bathroom issue in their stores. In response, the American Family Association created a petition calling for consumers to boycott of Target. At the time of this writing, the petition has garnered almost 1.2 million signatures.
Just before announcing its new policy, Target’s stock (TGT) was priced at around $84 per share. At the time of this writing one share is just under $79. This 5% change in price might not sound like much, but is equal to a market value drop of over 1.5 billion dollars.
A final note on Target’s bathroom policy
TheBlaze’s Lawrence B. Jones visited a local Target store in the Dallas metroplex area and asked shoppers for their opinion of the new policy. I think one gentleman sums it up best by stating, “it’s all about the kids.”
Featured image via Barbwire
