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Famous Boycotts In U.S. History

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Politically driven boycotts of consumer products and pressure on companies to stop advertising on controversial platforms have been a hallmark of the Trump era, but boycotts in America go back well before the 45th president. The Onion takes a look at the history of consumer boycotts in the U.S.


1960s:

To protest segregation, wealthy Americans boycott use of public transportation.


1965:

Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers lead the Delano grape strike, successfully convincing millions of Americans to continue not buying fresh fruit.

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1970:

Antiwar protests encourage housewives to find household alternatives to Dow Chemical’s napalm.

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1980:

President Jimmy Carter calls for boycott against the Moscow Olympics in effort to escalate conflict in Afghanistan.

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1986:

U.S. boycotts South African products over apartheid on the grounds that systematic racial segregation was more of a 1960s thing.

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1997:

Local mother Diane Travers stopped taking her family to Applebee’s because she heard a guy at the bar say “cocksucker.”

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2010:

Outrage over the company’s role in a massive oil spill spurs a boycott of BP gas stations, which everyone seems to have forgotten about now.

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2012:

Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy declares his opposition to gay marriage, leading millions of gay rights advocates to continue eating Chick-fil-A.

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2018:

Apparently Kyle’s ex works at Jimmy John’s now, so we have to start going to the Jersey Mike’s on South 15th instead.

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2019:

People boycotting SoulCycle over CEO’s support of Trump going to be floored when they find out about rest of country’s ultra-wealthy business owners.