tl;dr I view lack of organization as one of the biggest weaknesses of boycotts of our time, and an app to help organize it may be beneficial.
Some thoughts
- boycotts can work
- many boycotts don’t work
- in my opinion, boycotts work best when they are: well organized, clear stated goal and demand, and have large participation
- boycotts that are lifestyle oriented, indefinite, too general (encompassing too many products or companies) and do not have clear demands have low participation and do not work as well.
- In general, people tend to follow trends, and participation drops when a boycott takes too long
- in my opinion, boycotts are much more effective when they focus on a few targets at a time for maximum damage, to deliver their political message and bring attention to their movement. On the other hand, issuing a boycott against a large number of companies will have lower participation and will be harder for regular people to follow.
I think having an app can be helpful for organizing. Here is what the app can do:
- show you the boycotts with the most participants (or let you indicate your participation). This will encourage the user to participate when there are other participants
- shows you the rationale for the boycott, with sources and evidence.
- shows you the boycott’s most common demands and political message.
- shows you progress on the demands or the political message.
The app can also serve as a database for all active boycotts, their rationale, demands, progress, timeline and participants.
What are your thoughts? do you have any recommendations for me if I make this app?
This is a great idea - but it needs to be backed and endorsed by an organization. You’re correct that lack of organization is the number one obstacle/contradiction when it comes to boycotts being effective. That means that we probably would need to have a respected and large(ish) organization use it and set a good precedent with it before it would get big enough.