History: Nestlé is the world’s largest baby milk company.  They advertise their product in a way that undermines breastfeeding despite international law prohibiting this due to the effects. “The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed.” Nestlé also does not abide by proper labeling practices that require the risks to substituting breastfeeding to be on the product in the language of any particular country.

 

Goal: Make Nestlé's labeling and advertising practices consistent with the International Code

 

Action:  International Boycott involving 20 countries.  Organizers staged the Boston Nestlé Party dumping Nestlé products in the Boston Harbor.  Nestlé protesters lobbied the U.S. government.

 

Result:  Nestlé has been convicted in numerous legal actions for baby food marketing and malpractice.  In 1984 the boycott was suspended when monitoring showed that Nestlé had halted some of their more blatant abuses and management claimed they would work toward applying the International Code.  In 1988 when Nestlé continued to distribute free and low-cost supplies of breast milk alternatives, the boycott was resumed.  US Senator Ted Kennedy denounced Nestlé’s practices and endorsed the boycott.

 

Sources:

Caroline Heldman

http://www.ibfan.org/english/issue00.html

For a timeline of events and history of boycott see: http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/history.html

History:  Thousands upon thousands of porpoises, dolphins and whales die each year, due to entanglement in fishing nets.  In 1972 it was estimated that 423,678 dolphins were killed in the Eastern Tropical Pacific tuna purse seine fishery. 

 

Goal:  To end dolphin deaths during process of gathering tuna fish.

 

Action: A multi-year campaign to inform the public about the effects of tuna harvesting resulted in intense consumer pressure.  EII ran advertisements featuring schoolchildren and celebrities to educate the public about the routine killing of dolphins under the most popular methods of tuna harvesting. National boycott that gained world attention. 

 

Result: Heinz, Starkist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea labels, representing 90% of the American market, adopted dolphin-friendly policies on Earth Day 1990.  Heinz went a step further and also adopted the dolphin-friendly position in their marketing campaign, hoping to stimulate buycotting. As a result of consumer pressure, and the continued efforts of EII, the preliminary estimate of dolphins killed in the tuna purse seine fishery in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean for the year 2000, was 1,636.   Later that year, Congress passed legislation defining a "dolphin-safe" tuna label.  In 1992, Congress enacted the International Dolphin Conservation Act, which specifically outlawed imports of any tuna caught during encirclement of dolphins.

 

Sources: Caroline Heldman, Monroe Friedman

http://www.earthisland.org/abouteii/abouteii.html

http://www.marineconnection.org/archives/bycatch/bycatch_european_fish_free_week.htm

http://www.defenders.org/defendersmag/issues/summer02/tunadolphin.html

Miami Boycott

History:    In spring of 1990, Mayor Xavier Suar persuaded the Miami city government to withdraw its official welcome to Nelson Mandela, the leader of the black liberation struggle in South Africa, who was then touring the United States after his release from a South African prison where he was held for more than 27 years for opposing apartheid. Although he received a hero's welcome in most cities Mandela, when he landed in Miami-Dade, Cuban-American politicians in Miami refused to officially welcome him. Hundreds of protesters, led by Cuban-Americans, also spoke out against Mandela's support of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.  The incident reminded many in the black community of years of inequality for blacks in Miami. A prominent lawyer, H.T. Smith, called it an insult to the black community.

 

Goal:  To get one black organization each week to pull a convention out of Miami or take the city off its list of possible sites until Dade leaders apologized to Mandela.  Mr. Suarez refused, and the boycott snowballed. Miami boycotters developed a growing list of demands, including an investigation into police treatment of Haitian protesters, a federal review of Haitian immigration policy, and single-member voting districts in Dade County. They also demanded promises of set-asides for African-American contractors, scholarships for African-American youth, and city support for an African-American-owned hotel.  

 

Action: A nationwide boycott by black organizations of Miami-area hotels. African-American groups refused to hold meetings or book group tours in Miami Beach

 

Result:  Dade County agreed in 1993 to a series of initiatives to increase the black community's participation in business and tourism. One of the key elements was a $10 million subsidy provided by Miami Beach for the county's first black-owned hotel, the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza.  This served to encourage African-American education, jobs, and ownership in the hospitality industry.  Miami lost at least $25-million in convention business. Boycott organizers put the figure at $75-million.   The region lost more than $50 million in convention business. Mr. Suarez never fully apologized for snubbing Mr. Mandela.  The construction of a Black-owned luxury resort in Miami Beach was central to the 20-point agreement between activists and business leaders to end the protest in 1993

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1812306.stm; http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3812/is_200207/ai_n9089979

http://salempress.com/Store/samples/african_american_history/african_american_history_cubans.htm

http://havanajournal.com/politics_comments/A621_0_5_0_M/

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/02/24/loc_demands_make_boycott.html

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/07/10/Business/Impact_of_outrage.shtml

http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arch_story/122002.htm

 Americans used to view themselves as practical agents in a civic world, working together to solve collective problems, but now, as citizen consumers, people have discarded previous notions of civic responsibility.

Starbucks Campaign

History:  Many of the 300,000 year-round workers live in dirt-floor shacks with no running water. Temporary campesinos get only 15-day contracts that allow employers to sidestep rights and benefits laws. Sometimes whole families, children included, work 12-hour days, but only the father gets paid. Typically such pay is below the largely unenforced legal minimum wage of $2.60 a day.

 

Goal:  Persuade Starbucks, one of the dozens of U.S. companies who import over half of Guatemala's coffee production, to take responsibility for the coffee they sell.

 

Action:  Coordinated effort to leaflet 75 stores in over 25 U.S. and Canadian cities

 

Result: Starbucks announced it would adopt a code of conduct.  The code outlines minimum standards for working conditions for the company's foreign producers, including the right to a basic-needs wage and the right to freely associate and organize.
Council for Economic Priorities named Starbucks one of ten winners of its 1996 Corporate Conscience Awards for being the first U.S. importer to establish a framework for a code of conduct to protect workers producing an agricultural commodity.

 

Sources:http://salt.claretianpubs.org/issues/ethiccons/shop.html; http://www.usleap.org/

History: The Gap had "Sourcing Principles and Guidelines," pertaining to the labor standards of their factories.  These guidelines were not being enforced as was made obvious by a particular factory in El Salvador where the workers were being paid 56 cents an hour and being subjected to poor conditions, sometimes involving physical abuse.  Any union activities were met with threats and violence and workers tying to organize unions were fired.

Goal:  To have the Gap to establish and enforce a code of conduct for their factories that would not subject workers to horrible conditions and tiny wages.

Action: Combination of direct actions at the Gap stores, phone calls, and letters. Supporters leafleted stores and asked store managers how and under what conditions clothing items were made.

Result: the Gap signed a resolution, agreeing to work with groups like the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility in order to establish an independent monitoring program so that sourcing principles would be enforced.  Mandarin International agreed to a plan to negotiate with and hire back nonworking union leaders.
 

Sources:

http://salt.claretianpubs.org/issues/ethiccons/shop.html

History: Shareholders at General Electric realized that GE was responsible for polluting the Houstonic River in Massachusetts by dumping toxic PCBs into it. 

 

Goal:  To have General Electric clean up the toxic PCB's that were polluting the Housantonic River

 

Action:  Resolutions from share-holders and government attention

 

Result: General Electric agreed to spending $150 - $250 million to clean up a portion of the river that had been contaminated by PCB's years before

 

Sources:

http://www.socialinvest.org/areas/research/trends/1999-Trends.htm

 

History: Pacific Lumber was planning to cut down an ancient Redwood tree named Luna and the surrounding old-growth trees

 

Goal: To preserve the ancient Redwood tree, to protect the surrounding old-growth forest

 

Action: Julia Hill climbed Luna on December 10, 1997 and did not come down until December 18, 1999

Result:  Pacific Lumber agreed to preserve Luna and the surrounding stand in exchange for $50,000 from Hill and her supporters which in turn would be given to Humboldt State University for forestry research.

 

Sources:

Caroline Heldman

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40230-2004Sep21.html

http://www.earthportals.com/julialuna.html

History:  The Home Depot sells 10 percent of the world’s lumber and represents 40 percent of the home improvement industry in the United States

 

Goal: to stop The Home Depot from selling products made from old-growth forests

 

Action:  Public information campaign which involved multiple advertisement and support for popular music groups such as the Dave Mathews Band and the Indigo Girls.   Large demonstrations were held simultaneously across the nation.  Weekly protests at Home Depot stores were also held.  1999 saw activists consolidate during a one-day protest of 150 stores throughout the US and Canada.  A total of 700 grassroots demonstration organized between 1998 and 1999.   A share-holder resolution was proposed to halt the use of old growth trees and supported by an unprecedented 12%.

 

Result: Home Depot officially pledged to stop its use of old-growth wood by the year 2000

 

Sources:

Caroline Heldman

Rainforest Action Network

History:  Georgetown University, like many colleges, licensed its name and logo through the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a company which is then responsible for making arrangements for the clothing bearing the school insignia to be manufactured and sold.  Often the clothing was made in Central American sweatshops. Public pressure led to the CLC writing a Code of Conduct designed to regulate the conditions under which university apparel is made. There were no students or garment workers on the committee. The result was a document with little change of intent of success. The Code did not acknowledge the need for higher wages, did not include enforcement  mechanism, and also had escape clause written in.

 

Goal: To have the administration adequately address the conditions under which Georgetown University apparel was produced.

 

Action: 85 hour sit-in

 

Result: The Dean of Students signed an agreement, granting nearly all the students’ demands.  On of which was demanding that the university require full public disclosure of the locations of all factories making Georgetown apparel. Any company not releasing the locations of their factories within one year (and every six months thereafter) would have its contract with Georgetown canceled. A committee of students, faculty, and administrators would monitor compliance.

 

Sources:

Caroline Heldman

http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/may99williams.htm

History:  Pride foundation owned $55,000 of McDonald's stock. It also had Trillium Assets Management as an anonymous co-filer of its resolution. McDonald's policies affect approximately 250,000 workers in the U.S. and abroad.

 

Goal: To have sexual orientation be included in McDonald's equal opportunity employment statement

 

Action:  Pass a share holder's resolution

 

Result: Resolution was withdrawn after McDonald's decided not to wait for the vote and agreed to include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policy.  McDonald's not only adopted the policy but also issued updated employee handbooks and included sexual orientation in their diversity training sessions.

 

Sources:

Caroline Heldman

http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?1999/04/09/3

http://www.socialinvest.org/areas/research/trends/1999-Trends.htm

Boycott the Bell

History:  The tomatoes produced in Immokalee, Florida go to supply major, multi-national corporations like Taco Bell and Burger King. Those fast food giants receive cheap, high-quality US tomatoes, thanks to the sacrifices of thousands of hard-working Florida farm workers.  Farm workers who pick for Florida growers who sell tomatoes to Taco Bell earn between 40-50 cents for every 32-lb bucket of tomatoes they pick. For example, the Immokalee-based "Six L's Packing Co., Inc.," one of the nation's largest tomato producers and a contractor to Taco Bell (according to the industry journal "The Packer"), still pays 40 cents per bucket. That is the same piece rate paid since 1978. At that rate, workers must pick and haul 2 TONS of tomatoes to make $50 in a day.  Workers are denied the right to organize and the right to overtime pay for overtime work. They receive no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays, no vacation, and no pension.

 

Goal: Convene a meaningful, three-part dialogue -- bringing together representatives of Taco Bell, their Florida tomato suppliers, and representatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers - to discuss solutions to the problems farm workers face in Florida's fields.  Contribute to an immediate increase in farm worker wages through a raise in the per pound rate Taco Bell pays for tomatoes from its Florida suppliers.  Join with CIW and tomato industry representatives in drafting strict wage and working condition standards to be required of all Taco Bell tomato suppliers. Such standards would necessarily require respect for pickers' fundamental labor rights, including the right to a living wage and overtime, and the right to organize without fear of retaliation.

 

Action:  Boycott

 

Result: In early 2005 Taco Bell made an unprecedented agreement to pay the first-ever direct, ongoing payment by a fast-food industry leader to workers in its supply chain to address sub-standard farm labor wages. Taco Bell  accepted the Coalition of Immokalee Worker's (CIW) demands for a penny a pound increase in the price they pay for tomatoes. Taco Bell further pledged to work with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions for farm workers in the Florida tomato industry.
 

 

Sources: Information taken directly from http://www.ciw-online.org/index.html,

http://www.ciw-online.org/tz_site-revision/home/home.html

History:  On March 11, 2003 Bill O’Reilly stated, “If France does, indeed, veto a new U.N. resolution, I will support a boycott of their products, and even if it doesn't come to that, I myself will think long and hard before I buy anything made in France.” Chain letters calling for a boycott of French goods started circulating after France, among others, did not support the US war effort in Iraq in March of 2003.  The campaign was not well organized having no set goals or time period.  In February of 2005 Bill O’Reilly said, “I am again calling for all responsible people not to buy French products, not to travel to France, and to contact the French embassy in Washington, and let them know Chirac's conduct is unacceptable.” Bill O’Reilly was upset with Jacques Chirac for not calling members of Hezbollah terrorists.

 

Goal: Not established, served to further anti-French sentiment among Americans

 

Action:  National Boycott.  Some people were calling for a boycott of all French products and others only wine.

 

Result: The French Government Tourist Office estimates that as a result of the boycott in 2003 France lost $500 million in American tourist dollars alone (Horowitz, 2003). 

 

Sources:

Caroline Heldman

http://www.doyourpart.us/ & http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/france.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148011,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,80769,00.html

 

Bill O’Reilly’s sells this bumper sticker:

History:  August 27, 2002 - Fox News Channel commentator and host of The O'Reilly Factor Bill O'reilly urged people to boycott Pepsi after Pepsi decided to run a commercial featuring rapper Ludacris. The boycott is based on Pepsi hiring a spokesman who is "peddling antisocial behavior" according to O'Reilly.

 

Goal:  Stop Pepsi ads featuring Ludacris from airing

 

Action:  Thr