Over one in three consumers boycott at least one brand

In details of a survey on the sustainablemarketing.com blog (really worth a visit), it was stated that worldwide some 36% of consumers had at least one brand on their black list. I have never been a strident ‘blacker’, but realise that there are some brands I avoid if if possible. The usual suspects were there of course – Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Nestle etc. And they are on my avoid list rather than an active black list – but avoid them I do.

It is interesting the reasons why people boycott brands – of course many of these big names are avoided on grounds of principle, they do not fit within the inventory of our personal values or brand narrative. Others are the subject of far more personal experience. The insurance company who made your claim impossible; the store where you had awful service or the car brand that sold you a lemon.

But at what point does a mild dislike of a brand turn into an avoidance of purchase, then to an out and out boycott?