Buy Nothing Day - Together we stop Trump

One year ago, on Black Friday aka Buy Nothing Day (Nov 29, 2024) our worldwide boycott of four major US food businesses to stop Donald Trump kicked off. Buy Nothing Day, this year on Nov 28, is a pretty significant day, which is celebrated by a lot of people all around the world. It is essentially a global day of protest against consumerism. Because much of Black Friday shopping happens online, the delivery and later return of unwanted items causes a much higher carbon footprint than shopping in local stores. Anyone who has ever seen what happens in North America during the Black Friday sales understands all too well why it is high time that we take a step back and contemplate the meaning of all of the Black Friday madness.

Already before his inauguration, Donald Trump announced to become a dictator on day one and it has been foreseeable that his second term would turn American democracy into chaos. We have all witnessed how President Donald Trump transformed into a dictator and wanna-be-king who denies healthcare to US citizens, deploys troops against fellow Americans, and hands giveaways to billionaires while families struggle. America has No King!

The four internationally active US companies in our political boycott campaign are Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Starbucks, and Amazon. Although Amazon is not directly a food producer, we have included the company because it sells and delivers grocery stuff. Moreover, Amazon was one of the big supporters of Trump in the 2024 re-election and is on the #GrabYourWallet list of companies that do business with the Trump family. Each of the other three companies have been individual targets of previous boycott calls, and all of them have a long story of human right violations, unfair labour practices including union busting, animal cruelty, overconsumption of water, pollution of the oceans, and rainforest destruction. Environmental group Mighty Earth revealed that the cows killed for McDonald's meals are fed with soybean cultivated in deforested areas in Bolivia and Brazil. Coca-Cola creates the biggest plastic pollution footprint in six developing countries (China, India, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria): about 8 billion bottles which are burned or dumped each year. Starbucks has dramatically expanded its presence in Asia, opening 400 new stores in 2023 - with no plan to address its plastic waste. Starbucks uses more than 8,000 paper cups a minute. For all of those paper cups, about 1.6 million trees are harvested every year.

The majority of the money from the Black Friday online sales goes to large companies. Amazon is the number one company that profits from sales on Black Friday. Amazon made 17.7% of all Black Friday sales in the USA. Amazon has a track record of gross tax avoidance. Smaller companies which pay their due taxes tend to have a much smaller cut from Black Friday sales, and they often don't even take part in the event. The consumer activist group Ethical Consumers recommends some actions that you can do against Amazon on this year's Black Friday from sharing campaign posts on social media as well as action with your wallet. For example, you can let the company know you're boycotting it by cancelling your Amazon Prime subscription on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and telling Amazon why you are doing this.

After one year of worldwide boycott of four major US food businesses: Do we see an impact? All four companies see financial losses and reduced consumption. US American brands face a backlash over boycotts over the Gaza war, in particular because grassroot boycotts against Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and McDonald's are popular. Around 70% of the US economy depends on consumer spending. As wealth concentrates in the richest 10% of Americans, the rest of the country can't afford to buy enough to keep the economy running. Inflation accelerated in the shrinking Trump-economy. Coca-Cola, Starbucks and McDonald's are confronted with a new resistance from costumers weary of inflation. McDonald's in the USA saw a double-digit dip in visits from lower and middle income consumers in the first quarter of 2025. We cannot tell if they simply have no money to buy burgers or if they don't visit the fast-food chain as a revenge to Trump and his billionaire friends. Starbucks struggles in fights over unionisation with their barristas and the firm's US sales have dropped constantly during the last year. Retail giant Amazon announced on 27 October that the company plans to cut as many as 30,000 jobs, marking the largest layoff in the company's history. The cuts total to nearly 10% of the company's corporate jobs. Amazon explains the layoff as an attempt to cut costs and slim down its huge operation base. Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, told employees that artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as chatbots require fewer employees in some areas. But maybe we have hit the monster where it hurts - Amazon's online sales on the first day of Prime Day were down 41% compared to last year. With our global boycott even bigger losses could be ahead for the four companies as much of their profits depends on the international market.

What to do on Buy Nothing Day? You may simply stay home with friends and family rather than going shopping. Or you celebrate Buy Nothing Day by spending the day in the countryside or in the mountains, if it is not raining a lot. Buy Nothing Day is also an ideal moment to give back to your community. Local food banks, animal shelters, environmental organizations, and community centers will be thankful for extra hands. Some have organized a so-called "zombie walk" on Buy Nothing Day, during which all of the participating "zombies" lurch around stores, supermarkets and shopping malls aimlessly, buying nothing, and staring ahead blankly. This has been used to raise awareness about Buy Nothing Day, as the "zombies" will inevitably be asked what they are doing and why, and then can proceed to explain their point of view. Adbusters recommend that people cut up their credit cards, walk around stores without buying anything and do the whirl-mart. Whirl-mart is the act of walking around a store with a cart without buying anything. Find some attractive posters here to promote Buy Nothing Day. Everyone should take simple actions to solving the climate crisis and we believe Buy Nothing Day is a great day to start.

Our worldwide boycott of Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Starbucks, and Amazon to stop Trump continues until he leaves the White House. Drop Coca-Cola for healthier drinks, visit McDonald's and Starbucks without ordering something and support your local dealers instead of online shopping at Amazon. Of course our ultimate boycott of International Food Companies continues. Check the Buycott app and avoid their food products. There are plenty of healthier choices for your meals.