Do you think it would do the world some good if we first boycotted the top 10 Fortune 500 companies, and then started boycotting more of them? The current top 10, with 2007 gross revenues in millions, are:
1. Wal-Mart Stores: $378,799
2. Exxon Mobil: $372,824
3. Chevron: $210,783
4. General Motors: $182,347
5. ConocoPhillips: $178,558
6. General Electric: $176,656
7. Ford Motor: $172,468
8. Citigroup: $159,229
9. Bank of America: $119,190
10. AT&T: $118,928
Of these companies I have already excised six. Here the other four, in descending order of difficulty:
I have AT&T for telephone and Internet but I may cut off the long distance and Internet services at the end of this year. I want to keep my local land line. I am under contract to the cell phone for yet another year. So we will see. AT&T is somewhat difficult for me to escape from, but I can try.
Bank of America: I have a credit card of theirs I rarely use, but which has 0% interest and which I do not wish to relinquish.
General Electric: I should be able to avoid buying their light bulbs if I try. They are a defense contractor, so I am used to trying to avoid them.
Wal*Mart: I go there occasionally due to the lack of options where I live, and the amount of gas and aggravation it takes to get to Target. Also, Wal*Mart is Black and Target is white, and Black people tend to be more pleasant than white ones, in particular the McMansion residents that throng the Target to which I refer, so I prefer the Wal*Mart experience even though as a company it is more evil.
What do you think? Would this resistance technique have any positive effect? How should it be revised?
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
We have the same problem that Wal-Mart is the only place we can buy certain items. And we don’t have much choice about carriers for our internet and phone services.
And it’s true that the people who work at Wal-Mart are very nice, even though they would have every reason in the world not to be.
I’m all for it (already do my own version) – though in So Cal we have more options.
(pssst – the reclusive Mr. Debs, whose prose you have admired in the past, has a new post up on our blog – come on over. )
This makes sense to me. I’ll be linking at some point.