Danone

• McDonald’s found itself caught in the crossfire after an Israeli franchisee said it was providing thousands of free meals to the Israel Defense Forces.
• Similarly, Starbucks faced boycott calls after disagreeing with a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by the chain’s union expressing solidarity with Palestine.
• Many other American companies are being targeted, in some cases purely for their government’s support for Israel.
• More broadly, there have been boycotts over everything from the Ukraine war to “woke” branding.

Case study 1: Danish cartoons

• In 2005 Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused huge offence to many Muslims over cartoons satirising Prophet Muhammad.
• Much of the outrage was directed at the Danish government for refusing to take action, while Danish-Swedish food group Arla became a lightning rod for calls to boycott Danish products.

Case study 2: the Ukraine war

• Both consumers and western companies boycotted Russia and Belarus after the Ukraine invasion in 2022.
• Among the companies pulling out or temporarily halting operations were McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, BP and Shell.

Case study 3: anti-wokeism

• In 2015, Starbucks initiated a national conversation about race relations and attempting to bring different racial groups together.
• This attracted much criticism online for being self-serving, with people pointing out that the chain’s staff weren’t particularly ethnically diverse.
• More recently, Bud Light faced a two-week boycott from conservatives after its “woke” campaign online featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney promoting a tallboy can.

What it means for the Israel boycotts

• Judging by the experiences of Denmark and Russia, brand boycotts appear to exert minimal influence on the target nation’s economy.
• In the absence of coordinated sanctions against Israel, social media is likely to be the sole means of pressuring companies and governments into change.
• Companies trading in Israel or even whose government is backing the offensive could easily fall into that category.

Dr Aisha Ijaz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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