TAMPA, Fla. – Some people around the country took the “no-spend challenge” a step further on Friday, imposing an economic blackout on all non-essential spending in protest of big corporations and other concerns.
“It’s all over the internet, and I’m very politically active,” said Marti Brown, a St. Petersburg resident and nurse practitioner.
The economic blackout called for no gas spending, online shopping, or purchases unless they were essential or from a small business.
Local perspective:
Some Tampa Bay residents participated.
“I haven’t shopped. I hadn’t been any place. I do plan on patronizing a couple of Black businesses this evening,” said Yvette Lewis, the president of the NAACP Hillsborough County branch.
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Social media showed people around the country joining the boycott of major corporations and chains to protest corporate profiting, high prices, recent political decisions, and the elimination of DEI initiatives to follow federal executive orders.
The other side:
“It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs. It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier in February.
The end of DEI programs is why community leaders like Lewis joined the boycott.
“I’m not quite sure when they switched the narrative of DEI, had a Black face on it. But it’s not. It is for everyone,” said Lewis. “It’s for all. It is for veterans. It is for disabled people. It is for everyone to be able to be included or to even have an opportunity to walk through the door.”
Twenty-four hours may not seem like much.
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“The big-box stores aren’t going anywhere, right? This isn’t going to put them out of business,” said Michael Snipes, an Associate Instructor of Economics at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus.
Big picture view:
However, Snipes said about 70% of the American economy is personal consumption, and there is a historic precedent for voting with your dollars.
“I do think it’s a little bit different because it does seem to be crossing political differences. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks,” said Snipes. “I do think that if this is something that catches on and gains momentum, it’s going to force companies to pay attention. It’s going to force companies to change their behavior.”
For some, a one-day boycott is all it takes.
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“It’s corporate speak, which is money. So, we do that, and we will get their attention,” said Brown.
Professor Snipes said a negative side to long-term economic boycotts is corporations laying off workers to compensate for the losses.
What’s next:
More economic blackout days are planned in March, April and into the summer.
The Source: FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo collected the information in this story.
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