Which companies to boycott and why?

[lvhatkent]

I generally refer to them as either Wal-fart, the anti-Christ or the Devil, but anyway that's not the reason for my post. My brother worked at a Walmart and it was a HORRIBLE experience for him. At the time, I wasn't so sure that it was all true because I couldn't believe that any company could be that bad. Then I saw an ad on TV for a huge class-action lawsuit against them and started reading and hearing more about them. Wow, his experience wasn't even half of it. My fiancee is an IBEW electrician and the union has given us plenty of info on Walmart. Also, if you really want more info about them, see if you can get your hands on a copy of the PBS Frontline episode of "Is Walmart Good for America?" (I think that's the title.) It really shows the lengths they will go to in order to monopolize retail sales in the US and Canada, including teaching companies that want to sell to products to Walmart how to run sweatshops in Asian countries. If Walfart gave away their crap for free, I wouldn't take it. But, that's my opinion. Seriously, though, I hope people will take the time to do a little bit of "investigative reporting" of their own before they spend their hard earned dollars at a place like that. By the way, a lot of the stuff in their stores isn't cheaper than anywhere else. It's just the "loss leader" at the end of the aisle that is. After you go down the aisle and buy the brand name microwave, which you later find $10 cheaper at Sears or JC Penney you're stuck with it. Walmart sucks!!!!!!

Leah

[pixeequeen]

nestle, proctor and gamble, maccyD's, nike, shell...
This is a really good thread, I'm trying to buy consciensciously, but don't always know about stuff; and its reassuring to see other people don't use what I dont if I've only heard second or third hand, so, well, thanks guys!

[Wanda]

I never go to fast food restaurants and try to avoid sweatshop companies.
I now buy most of my clothes online from this list of Good Companies (http://www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops.htm).
Just click on 'Good Companies'.
I also buy as much as possible organic products.
I like to support companies that make an effort.

[Roxy]

Thanks for that great link Wanda! It's going to come in very handy!!

[Michelle]

if i need something new i buy from ethical fair trade companies of which there are quite a few in the UK and i'm sure there are others around the world. some UK companies (most are mail order) include www.peopletree.co.uk www.bishopstontrading.co.uk www.traidcraft.co.uk the only thing with these companies is they often use wool and silk in their clothes, but a vegan fairtrade clothing company is www.ethicalwares.co.uk they are great. :D


Thank you so much for posting this! :)

[Michelle]

I never go to fast food restaurants and try to avoid sweatshop companies.
I now buy most of my clothes online from this list of Good Companies (http://www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops.htm).
Just click on 'Good Companies'.
I also buy as much as possible organic products.
I like to support companies that make an effort.

Thank you, too, Wanda! I am so happy that you guys have made me aware of these sites :)

[Evilfluffbunny]

Most pet food companies, especially Iams, Hills, Purina, Pedigree etc. I believe Felix, Whiskers and the majority of the other mainstream brands also test on animals.

Tesco, for the disgusting state of the farms where they get their pig meat.

L'Oreal for continuing to test on animals.

There's many more but that's all I can think of right now! Most of the main ones have been mentioned.

[Spiral]

Boycott Coca Cola (http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/cocacolacampaign.html)

Coca Cola stand accused of complicity in the assassination of 8 Sinaltrainal trade union leaders in Colombia since 1990. Many other leaders have been imprisoned, tortured, forcibly displaced and exiled. Of course, Coca Cola deny any responsibility for the murders, pointing out that 100s of union leaders are killed every year in Colombia. However, many of Sinaltrainal’s victims were killed inside Coca Cola plants while negotiating collective agreements. Coca Cola management were reported in the national press as meeting and contracting members of the AUC death squads to “sort out their labour problems”.

[Evilfluffbunny]

I also read Coca Cola sponsored a cock fight somewhere and that Pepsi sponsored a bull fight. I suppose it could have been computerised (though I don't see why anyone would do that), but I saw photos of the bull ring with Pepsi posters all around it. :mad:

[phillip888]

Coco cola and altri are major backers of anti-vegan lobbying too. Altria = philip morris and kraft

http://www.altria.com/about_altria/01_04_02_kraftfoodsnorthamerica.asp

[Kevster]

My local health food shop back in Cranleigh has boycotted e-cover products:

http://www.buav.org/gocrueltyfree/faqs.html

Sounds like a very progressive stance, however, last time i was there they were selling organic meat... not so progressive.

[Kevster]

Incidentally, Bio-D don't seem to be open to scrutiny from BUAV either......
Faith in Nature seem to be a good bet, but unfortunately don't yet use the vegan society trademark. But their products are vegan :)

http://www.faithinnature.com/indexpackage.asp

[Geoff]

I also read Coca Cola sponsored a cock fight somewhere and that Pepsi sponsored a bull fight. I suppose it could have been computerised (though I don't see why anyone would do that), but I saw photos of the bull ring with Pepsi posters all around it. :mad:

Pepsi were sponsoring bullfights a few years back but said that they would stop doing so after a campaign by Steve Hindi (SHARK). There would probably be info about it on the SHARK site.

[Gorilla]

My local health food shop back in Cranleigh has boycotted e-cover products

it's a shame Ecover won't commit to a total non-animal testing policy :( but they're the only products i can get refilled in this area as far as i know

[Gorilla]

Global Boycott Proctor & Gamble Day, Saturday 21st May 2005, see here. (http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pg.htm)

[drummer]

BOYCOTT BENETTON FOR USING AUSTRALIAN WOOL!!!!
The farmers here do something called mulesing. They cut off sheeps' rear ends with sharp shears without painkillers!! The sheep suffer terrible pain, even thought there are alternatives to mulesing, Aus farmers continue to mutilate and torture sheep. Any company that uses Australian wool should be boycotted. All farm animals in Aus are tortured and killed in the cruelest ways just to make a profit.

[mattd]

do you know why they do that? i can't think any reason why shearing off the rear end of sheep would be good for collecting wool.

[Evilfluffbunny]

I think it's to prevent dirt and maggots etc from collecting in the folds of skin. :(

There's a video of this being done to a sheep on peta.com, the poor thing was held upside-down with her legs tied up as huge areas of skin (practically the whole of the buttocks area) was cut off without any form of painkiller. It was horrific to watch but I wanted to know what happens. :mad:

[coconut]

I think that if you're vegan you avoid buying products from various bad companies, whether you're conscious of their evil doings or not. I no longer eat milk chocolate so I've pretty much cut Nestle out of the picture. It's amazing how far their tentacles reach. I bought a bottle of Vittel water the other day and just happened to scan the smallprint: I discover they're actually a subsidiary of Nestle! I wonder where they source their water and who they step on to get it.

That's awful about the situation with Australian sheep. It's unbelievable how people can do something like that to a completely harmless animal, and when there are plenty of alternative clothing materials you can use. I don't know much about this but I suppose wool is just another huge corporate enterprise like factory farming or Big sugar or Big tobacco.

[Geoff]

I discover they're actually a subsidiary of Nestle! I wonder where they source their water and who they step on to get it.

Nestle are taking water at next to no cost all over the world and making big profits at the expense of local people. See:
http://www.indiaresource.org/issues/water/2003/bottledwaterblues.html

[Tigerlily]

There's a company called ConAgra. They are one of the largest meat packing companies in the US, even in North America too. Not only do they cause animal suffering, they also have bad human rights violations as well.

Other than being a meat packing company, they also own many other smaller companies and they produce more than meat. I used to have a list of all the stuff they made/owned, but I can't seem to find it. Ahh. They make a lot of stuff, even "vegan products".

Oh, here it is:
http://www.conagrafoods.com/brands/index.jsp

[gertvegan]

www.boycotttesco.com (http://www.boycotttesco.com/index.html) have some interesting info on Radio Frequency IDentification. :eek:

[tails4wagging]

That is scary!!!!. I dont go into tesco very often too far away for me anyway.

[Gorilla]

Here is a reminder about Global Boycott Procter & Gamble (P&G) Day IX - Sat. 21st May 2005, thanks to Uncaged Campaigns:

Campaign Materials

It's not too late to order leaflets, posters, petitions and stickers for Global Boycott P&G Day IX http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pgaction.htm on the weekend of 21st May 2005. So, drop us a line asap if you would like to conduct a campaign stall, supermarket protest, protest at a P&G site, library, college, work, community centre, or shop display, leafleting or do a letter-writing blitz with our full letter-writing pack.

Letter writing

After this email you will find a template letter to send to your regional newspapers. Please do send the letter to all your regional press (from major daily/evening paper to free weekly). Letters pages are the most read section of a paper, so a published letter can inform tens of thousands of people with the Boycott P&G message. Campaigners have had great success with this method of spreading the word in the past - but you must include you name and address on the letters for the them to be published.

Petition hand-in

Please join us for a petition hand-in at P&G HQ, Cobalt lane, Silver Fox way, Cobalt Business Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE27 0QN, from 10.40am to 12noon. We will have banners, posters and several animal costumes - but we need your help to come and hold and wear them, respectively. If we get enough people (only needs to be about half a dozen) we can almost guarantee some good media coverage - email us back as soon as possible if you can spare an hour or so. info@uncaged.co.uk / max@uncaged.co.uk

Template letter to local newspapers

Dear Sir/Madam

I am appalled that Procter & Gamble (who make world-famous brands like Daz, Fairy, Ariel, Olay, and Max Factor amongst others) continues to test on and kill animals in the development of their products. They conduct animal tests around the world for cosmetics sold in British shops - even though such tests have been banned in the UK for several years! Unbelievably, they even secretly harm and kill animals in experiments for their pet food subsidiary IAMS/Eukanuba!!

Like millions of people around the world I now boycott all Procter & Gamble (P&G) products. Saturday 21 May is Global Boycott P&G Day and there will be demonstrations and information events all over the UK (including in our region), and across the world. All the events have the same message: If you buy Procter & Gamble products, you may as well be holding the knife yourself!

A P&G boss recently claimed that they face an election every time a shopper stands in the shopping aisle deciding what to buy. Yet their manifesto is the cruel and unnecessary poisoning and killing of animals. Who wants to vote for that when more than 600 companies manufacture similar safe and effective products without testing them on animals?!

I urge readers to get themselves a list of P&G products and avoid them at all costs.

More information about Procter & Gamble's practices, their products and non-animal testing companies - is available from Uncaged Campaigns, 9 Bailey Lane, Sheffield S1 4EG, 0114 272 2220 or visit their website at www.uncaged.co.uk/pg.htm

Yours faithfully.....

[feline01]

Me, VeganMan and the vegan twins will be doing our first leafletting (against Proctor & Gamble) at our local, huge supermarket on May 21st. We will be handing out pamphlets on why Proctor & Gamble are so horrible and also providing Cruelty Free Shopping Guides. I'm nervous and excited, I never leafletted before, none of us have. The family that protests together...can maybe make a difference??? :p