What do you think of politicians calling for brand boycotts?

Question

In the US we all have the right to boycott business and vote with our wallets. Below are two cases where publicly elected politicians have used their social media platforms to call for boycotts over brands for certain reasons they personally believe in. My question is not really is they have a ‘right’ to do this (because obviously legally they do).. I am asking if you think it is appropriate for politicians to try and influence the reduction of income to household brand names? If so, is it ok in all cases, or only some? Feel free to bring up additional examples of politicians doing this if it helps aid your reply.. the examples given were just to show examples from each political party out of fairness to the question.
GOYA boycott is being called for from some democrat politicians because of the owner recently making a statement at the White House that was in support of a Trump initiative.
NIKE boycott is being called for by Ted Cruz for their decision to pull a planned sale of shoes featuring the Betsy Ross flag after the suggestion was made that the flag existed during times of slavery and is therefore inappropriate for sale.

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**Please do feel free to look up additional articles on both subjects of you have a preferred news source. My intention was to represent both stories without this being even longer of a post overall ☺️🙃

Answer

They can call for whatever they want, it doesn’t mean you have to do it.

Answer

Of course boycotts are fine. Nobody is required to purchase products from specific companies. If you feel the actions of the company don’t mesh with your morals you don’t have to purchase their products. I won’t be purchasing goya. I also don’t eat chick-fil-a or shop at hobby lobby. That’s my right, I don’t have to support a company I think is immoral, neither do those on the other side. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Answer

Anybody can call for a boycott. It doesn’t matter what their reason is. Calling for a boycott doesn’t mean it will actually happen in large numbers. It’s up to each individual consumer to actually boycott a business or brand.

Answer

I think it’s fine to boycott, but the reasoning behind ted Cruz boycotting Nike ... just ... so pathetic and sad.

Answer

They can voice it, but it'll still buy from whoever I want anyways.
I don't buy neither Goya, or Nike products so it doesn't bother me.

Answer

I don’t see anything wrong with them saying they’re going to boycott brands and letting others know they can too. Major corporations in the US are pretty political anyways. As long as they realize it may not be feasible for many people to boycott certain things. Goya is mainly what I’m talking about. There are still shortages of a lot of things, including rice, at least where I live. So if Goya is the only brand of something I need, I will have to buy it. Goya sells a lot of dry beans and rice in large quantities for a low price. For people on a budget, it’s just something they may have to do whether they agree with their political stance or not.

Answer

If it’s a good enough reason and you feel driven to do so by a politician calling for such thing then go for it. For me, both of these reasonings are quite silly so I will keep buying from both Goya and Nike.

Answer

Yes, there are many ways for citizens to mobilize aside from just « vote for me » and I think it’s nice when politicians look at and support other types of political action. I think there are plenty of local and a few courageous national politicians (like Mélanchon) who do this here in France. It can be a daring move politically since big businesses do tend to also have quite a bit of power and powerful allies

Answer

I’m not really sure how to answer here. I agree with the Goya one, and not the Nike one. I can’t really agree with boycotting over them realizing something is currently used as a hate symbol. I’ll judge his position on it, but I certainly think he should continue to have the legal right to hold it. 
Talking beyond these two specific examples though, I don’t have a problem with conservatives calling for boycotts.  I might even join in if I agreed. Say a Republican Senator calling for a boycott because a brand was underpaying disabled veterans or something along those lines.

Answer

If that's what they want to use their voice and time on whatever I guess. I would hope my paid elected officials would have more important things to do then promote a 'boycott a brand' that will have no larger effect then cause a little noise and distraction and that's it. I worked at Nike for extra money for awhile. I have a lot of friends from there who still work at Nike. A lot of those people burning their shoes and clothes in their Kapernick boycott were back in the store 3 months later replacing what they destroyed. Nike was fine their numbers never went down...actually increased in some area of the usa and world. Calling for boycotts of stuff is like cancel culture. It gets 15 min of attention then on to the next thing and the businesses rarely feel much backlash. People who would jump on a abrupt boycott have instant outrage and no follow through. So boycott if you feel the need but I hope elected politicians don't spend a lot of time on it as there is more important things to do than go after a brand. I don't use certain brands for specific reasons...some moral, some ethical, some political...but it didn't start because a politician told me but rather because I choose where I spend my money

What do you think of politicians calling for brand boycotts?

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