An Ignoble Boycott (or Six, or Seven)

I boycott many things. For no good reason, really. I know that most of the time boycotts of certain companies occur for noble causes or just because a certain group of people dislikes the morals or practices of a certain business. I also know that boycotts are not very effective when only one person is involved, however, boycotting things is so much more fun than simply disliking them, so boycotting is what I do.

I boycott McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Burger King because I don’t like any of their food. I’m sure there are more noble reasons to boycott fast-food chains than that, but oh well. My boycotts of these restaurants throughout my teen years was quite an inconvenience to my family, as it meant that I would either refuse to eat anything when we all went out to these restaurants, preferring to go hungry, or else, very maturely beg, plead, and scheme to convince my parents to take our family out to eat elsewhere. Oh, what a wonderful teenager I was! My strong-willed devotion to boycotting these restaurants left such an impact on my parents that even after I’d been out of the house for years, my Mom would very gently suggest to my other sisters, “Is it okay if we eat at McDonald’s today?” To which they would respond with “Of course!” because they actually like Mcdonald’s.

I do not boycott Subway or Papa John’s, however, because their food is delicious! I think I must have rubbed off on Angel after hanging out with him so much because he currently boycotts Jimmy John’s. I’m not entirely sure of his reasoning but it seems to be simply that he thinks Jimmy John’s sandwiches aren’t as good as Subway’s. Still, a couple weeks ago Angel was forced to eat a free Jimmy John’s sandwich at a lunch at his work, and, as he reluctantly admitted to me when he got home later that day—it was a pretty good sandwich. So I’m not sure how long his boycott of Jimmy John’s will hold up.

I also boycott Target, mostly because everyone seems to like it so much. Again, not a very good reason. And Walmart, because there aren’t any Walmarts close to where I live.

And these count even less as boycotts in the normal sense of the term, but for your info, I also boycott cake and icing, mangoes, papayas, maxi skirts, coffee makers, vampires, and cardigans. I used to boycott skinny jeans, but I’ve since come over to the skinny side.

Boycotting things may not be the most productive hobby—but it probably saves money and gives me a healthier diet, simply because it limits, to a certain extent, places to shop and eat fast food. So I plan to continue with my boycotts. 

Do you have anything you boycott for less-than-noble reasons?