With the ubiquity of inflation and shrinkflation, why aren't there more boycotts? When will people say enough is enough?
With the ubiquity of inflation and shrinkflation, why aren't there more boycotts? When will people say enough is enough?
(US Perspective) It's hard to boycott food when like 10 companies own everything. Even store brands are just re-packaged "name" brands.
Edit: Obligatory: Fuck Nestle. I'm already boycotting the whole left side of that chart.
Not trying to gotcha you or nothing, but it's funny, that image being hosted on amazon aws.
Haha. I was going to upload it to my own instance, but AWS-hosted media typically don't block hotlinking. Saves me some bandwidth egress costs and storage xD
Fuck Nestle indeed. I've been boycotting their shit since they started hawking water bottled in communities without reliable access to clean water.
That's not even just a US perspective. That definitely applies to North America in general and Europe. There are supposedly anti-monopoly laws but huh, would you look at that... it's almost like they're ineffective.
My local farmers market is really nice.
Yeah, these are all prepared foods in the picture. Maybe people don't know but you can just like... make your own food.
Lots of things are just flour with other ingredients baked in an oven. Soda is just sugar and fizzy water. If you've never had homemade potato chips, you haven't lived.
This weekend, find a recipe for a basic ingredient that you like (ketchup, mayo, bread, etc.) and buy the ingredients for it. Then make it. You'll be surprised how easy and tasty it is. Mayo is like eggs and oil. Why pay $5 for a crappy version of it?
Nestle owns a whole lot more than what's shown on that chart.
all of them do
Donxc forget the other issues on supermarket chain. Which are also an oligopoly.
One of the reason why european farmer are getting angry is that they are pushed to sell at low prices by supermarket purchasing departments and see the price of their products multiplied by 10 when sold to the consumer.
Not consuming highly processed food from Nestle is doable. Not buying anything at the supermarket gets complicated unless you have money and time (and I wouldn't be surprised that many neighbourhood and organic shop still buy food through the large supermarket purchasing chain)
It's not possible to boycott a brand over an action if every other brand is doing the same fucking thing.
... some friends and I have been discussing a monthly meetup where we exchange around food or other things we do, like handiwork. I wonder what's involved in baking up a bunch of corn flakes that aren't made of garbage? Maybe it'd be fun to have people over and figure it out. Mix up the recipe a little each month, or pass it around between the group members.
I'm not trying to shame you like this is obvious, but I have also been thinking about "how can I escape this corporate hellscape???" and this is starting to be more the direction I'm heading.
People have tried that before - every attempt at a utopian society has failed. e.g. perhaps someone will bring "homemade milk", and after the 99th time people begin to relax and whoopsie forget to check it, then a large portion of the group gets exposed to a serious illness, maybe many die, the problems with communal actions get revealed.
Or else that person decides to get REALLY serious with their milk, and people decide to help chip in each week to defray the costs... and voila, capitalism is rediscovered!:-D
Though for the therapeutic benefits alone, it's probably mostly worthwhile - and anyway I'm cynical and bitter so please don't let that stop you:-). Probably the fact that you can see people's faces that would be affected by everyone's actions may make the difference?
It's probably worth giving a try - I usually bake my own bagels and that's an economically reasonable activity... I'd be worried that cereal would be unreasonable to do without a dehydrator or other specialized equipment but there's a lot of cook-ready food you could make. Pickled veggies and peppers are amazing, perogies or dumplings are easy to make in a freeze friendly manner, spaghetti sauce is insanely good vut usually doesn't freeze well - that's a classic example of a dish where it takes equal amounts of effort to prepare for two people or two dozen.
Cereal might not be the best but there are alternatives if you can get a group together... especially if you can cut across food cultures!
The corporations returned to oligopolism years ago. The government knows, and they're complicit.
Small actions are possible.
I won't buy Kellogg's any more.
Who knows, maybe all the own brand cereal manufacturers are doing horrible things too.
But I find peace in taking some action when some awful thing is done. As otherwise, I'd just have to hang my head in hopelessness.
What am I going to do? Starve? There isn't a grocery store in my area that's not doing this. So those are my choices.
Look man, I'm not trying to isolate you or pick on you... But I find this kind of victim mentality to be exhausting and frankly, intellectually dishonest.
You know darn well that your choices are not limited to pay or starve. You have the ability to adapt your life and to change your consumption patterns.
I even called out the "I guess I'll die then" mentality in a previous comment. Get a grip on your own life, and stop being a feebleton, acting like a trapped animal that has no ability to govern their own life.
Perhaps there is a middle solution, where you examine your consumption patterns and realize that you've become a victim of the "convenience tax" and you can opt out at any time.
Hard disagree. I already buy the store brand. Already buy in largest container with best $/Oz. Already restrict buying certain things unless they're on sale. Already cook from scratch as much as possible. Next step is buying a damn cow.
Of course I can make room in my budget. Right next to the record setting rent prices that are already causing record levels of homelessness.
What convenience are you talking about? Are we supposed to grow our own vegetables, as well as work multiple jobs and cook from scratch? What's next? Instead of shopping the outside, buying only on sale, and cooking from scratch we now to timeshare a fucking farm?
This doesn't make sense at the micro or macro level. The economy works best when people and companies are specialized. If you have to take time out to grow your own food then that's lost economic productivity. It's also probably too expensive in terms of the trade off for what you'd be paid at a job and covering your other bills
So put down your oblique attempt to use the avocado toast meme and go read some real news.
Your comment seems so out of touch with the reality of majority of people. I think you are taking an extremist and unreasonable stance.
It doesn't matter, because boycotts are generally futile since they at best only address skin level symptoms (at worst, and almost always - you're just giving your money to a different scummy capitalist), they can't cure the cancer, which is precisely why they're touted as a wonderful solution (by capitalists trying to ensure the public don't take any meaningful action against them).
I partly agree but I do think you have cause and effect (or disease and symptom if you will) swapped around. You‘re saying people don‘t do boycotts because they are futile. I would say it‘s the other way around and to answer OPs question, I think it largely comes down to commodity and mindlessness. But either way I think you are definitely right to suggest there must be systemic change and that all of this co2 compensation bullshit is just corporations guilt-tripping us into thinking we can consume our way out of this mess. However, the problem is that both approaches, the personal boycotts and the systemic change share a common factor, which is the requirement of mass action. If people aren‘t mindful enough to stop buying a particular kind of yoghurt, how are you ever going to get them to vote, much less stage a revolution? I think we need to get out of our passivity and boycotting things is a step in the right direction to establish a feel for personal agency.
If people aren‘t mindful enough to stop buying a particular kind of yoghurt, how are you ever going to get them to vote, much less stage a revolution? I think we need to get out of our passivity
How about people who aren't mindful enough of those who can't stop buying one brand or another, but especially of the reasons why??? (like - they only have one local store that only carries the one brand, or they carry two brand made by the same parent company, or they have three brands, two by the same company and the third by another one with just-as-bad practices. Or they're too poor to buy the more "ethical" brand, or they simply don't have the time in their day to even be aware of a boycott over exploitative practices, because they themselves are being exploited at 3 different jobs just to survive) I guarantee that a lack of that kind of mindfulness hurts the working class significantly more than the kind you're angry about.
If you want people to stop being "passive" - you destroy the system designed to keep them that way (not actually passive at all, they're probably more active than you'll ever be, just deliberately kept undereducated and too busy trying to survive), insisting on them continuing to play by the rules said system has made available to them (precisely because they have no real impact) only serves those in power to maintain the status quo.
That article needs to be its own post
George Monbiot is a fantastic writer.
Because boycotting food means you starve.
Boycotts work in luxury markets with strong competition. Necessity markets with highly concentrated monopolies? No chance. Without legislation to protect consumers, they are powerless to defend themselves against the greed and exploitation of corporate interests.
The biggest shrinkflation culprit is food. People need food. Recent trends do, in fact, show that American consumers have been switching to cheaper brands and reducing consumption of some items, but boycotting is unrealistic. People need to eat and a handful of massive corporations own most brands.
What, haven't you all spent three months to grow one head of lettuce? Just skip breakfast for breakfast and eat cereal for dinner!
This is extra funny to me because I do grow leafy greens.
In my view, the issue is that most people are not willing to change their own patterns in the slightest.
It's always somebody else's responsibility to give things exactly how they want. Personal responsibility and decisions have no play.
"Fuck Nestle. Oh yeah but I needed water, what was I supposed to do, die? I had no choice but to purchase water in plastic, there was no other store around and I don't know how to plan for my needs in advance. There is simply no way to anticipate that I could have needed water and fill a reusable bottle before I leave the house."
"The price of fast food is insane. It does not occur to me that I don't need to purchase this, and I have no inherent right to get it at a cheap price. It has also never occurred to me to go to the grocery store. Oh wait, yes it actually did occur to me, but I really don't want to cook, I want somebody else to make the food for me and for it to be cheap."
Personally, I'm done with Sony, I'm done with Nestle, I'm done with Walmart, I'm done with fast food, I'm done with Netflix. I'm done with all the places that behave unethically, and it would not be fair of me to complain about them while also patronizing them. I don't think you'll find this attitude in general population.
It's also because "the free market will fix it" is neoliberal bullshit that is pushed precisely because it doesn't work. It's just a way of blaming consumers for the horrifically immoral actions of corporations and they've suckered you right in.
Regulations could immediately stop Nestle using child slaves, no boycotts required.
It's a tough pill to swallow
But 150 years ago, folks were being given swaths of land, not knowing dick about that land, just for like... Fighting in wars.
Now, they let veterans starve and kill themselves.
Just saw a sad gif of a long line at the Costco rotisserie chicken stand.
People won't say enough is enough until they're hungry.
We're close.
The most lucrative positions are experiencing enormous layoffs.
2025-2030 is going to be WWIII and the greatest class war.of all time.
I just hope shit turns out okay for 2030 and beyond. Global warming ain't making that likely.
Sorry for doomer. But we either have a Renaissance era and burn or have an enslavement era and burn. I'm not loving the odds.
I am not a historian, but I get a sense that perhaps the intellectuals at least seemed to think that democracy (in the USA specifically, but also perhaps everywhere?) were just waiting to see how this grand "experiment" turns out. So there has practically always (since 1776 when the fire of democracy was re-ignited in the world after its long hiatus) been this expectation that we might someday fail, and each time something highly challenging comes around they likely re-visited that thought that perhaps it would be soon?
The difference is that this time, it's for real. Even if there were solves already in-place for both globalization and automation, how would climate change be dealt with? I am not saying that it's a 100% certainty - nothing ever truly is, until it has already happened - but I am agreeing with you that there seems less room for hope than ever before, that our way of life will survive intact.
I predict, for instance, that people will start demanding that their employers offer them housing. They might even start demanding longer-term contracts. In essence, they WANT slavery, as opposed to what is coming: anarchy & lawlessness. What good is "freedom" when you have no home, no job, no food, and can't do what you want anyway? This whole "government = bad" idea will cause many people to take refuge in the only other thing that offers even a glimpse of a good(-ish) life: enslavement to corporations. In return they will house, feed, and clothe you - if only barely - and you will in turn commit your very soul to looking after their needs rather than your own, including devoting every waking moment of... oh my, we are already there! (except without the "taking care of you part")
The difference is that this time, it's for real. Even if there were solves already in-place for both globalization and automation, how would climate change be dealt with?
When I was a kid all the churches said that globalization was a sure sign that we're in the end times. I think it's interesting that you now quote that as one of the signs that we are.
What good is "freedom" when you have no home, no job, no food, and can't do what you want anyway?
This is defeatism. It's surrender. There was a group of men 247 years ago who demanded death if not given liberty. They would rather die than live under monarchial rule any longer. We have fallen quite far if a return to corporate servitude is considered a viable option a mere hundred years after defeating its last ugly resurgence during the industrial revolution. You do not reward your oppressors with capitulation, you reward them with combat.
USA was never a democracy, though. It's a republic, and recent decades have shown it to become more and more the banana variant.
Wikipedia:
The United States is a federal republic of 50 states
What I think could actually help would be to put into law that the per-weight price needs to be displayed just as prominently as the actual total price.
The problem right now is that largely people don't notice if the packaging is the same size but the weight is slightly lower and the price is the same. If the per-weight price was shown as prominently as the actual price, people might suddenly notice the price hike more easily.
Or at least require actual prices instead of crap like "3 for $8.00 with card". You have to read through several different fine-print prices at the very bottom of the label to find what the actual price is.
We have per weight pricing on a lot of items in The Netherlands. It's great for comparing different items when you're in the supermarket, but doesn't really work against shrinkification. You simply don't remember the price-per-kg from last week.
We have it too in Denmark but it's usually a tiny font compared to the actual price. Which is why I say just as prominently. I've actually started to write per weight prices down so I can compare better.
We have that where I live and it honestly makes buying per weight / per sheet, incredibly helpful.
There's been so many times, just looking at the packaging, I thought it was a great deal to then see the per weight price and release what a rip off it was.
Massive quality of life for sure!
We have it too in Denmark but not as prominently as the actual price.
We live in an apartment. I can't grow my own food. What do you expect us to eat? Do you have any idea how hard it is to actually avoid buying products that support one of these greedy brands? It's almost everything on the shelf.
Boycott Nestlé
Do this first, boycott other companies who make a profit with child-labor and exploiting the poor. Don't buy from companies that steal people's water. Destroy the rainforest or harm animals unnecessarily.
I think this is far more important. Feel free to boycott shrinkflation on top. I try to do all of that if I get that choice and can afford it and have the knowledge available to me. But those products are also still on the shelves.
Nestlé does indeed suck. Here's a list of their properties if anyone wants to join:
When 'let them eat kellogs' becomes more of a reality
You see, were old poor. Were used to it. You need new poor to really get things going
I certainly have stoped buying a lot of things. Skipping our vacation this year as well. I’m never gonna spend $8 on a box of cereal, they can get fucked on that price point. Buying more in bulk at Costco. I already didn’t use Amazon.
It's so effective, but you just can't expect to get everyone on board sadly. Unfortunately it seems that there will always be those that value the convenience of Amazon, for example, over pushing for real change. Look at Bud Light, I hated the reasoning behind the boycott but it showed just how powerful collective action can be against corporations.
How exactly did it show that? From what I saw, a bunch of people went out and bought Bud Light so they could film themselves on TikTok destroying the cans, Bud Light got a bunch of free publicity, and then everyone forgot about it. That's not exactly meaningful change.
When Wendy's surge pricing kicks in?
I do wonder this.
I buy most of my groceries from Costco and Aldi. I'm sure it saves me a lot of $$ but I've not done any price comparisons recently.
Consumers need a union. Badly.
ETA: I have noticed that prices seem higher the few times I've been at the "normal" grocery store. I think some stores hold prices down more than others so I reward the stores that work harder in my interest. Except Walmart. Fuck Walmart.
I certainly have stoped buying a lot of things. Skipping our vacation this year as well. I’m never gonna spend $8 on a box of cereal, they can get fucked on that price point. Buying more in bulk at Costco. I already didn’t use Amazon.
When will politicians start muttering about price controls?
I have shrinkflation more than inflation. I have receipes that are all screwed up
People are just not price sensitive to most things. It's also seen as bad to be thrifty, most people think of you as being cheap or stingy. Everything is about appearances now, people are more worried about what other people think than their own interests.
Companies have also figured out that they can make more profit by raising prices and shipping less product. They have to pay less in overhead and wages and get the same amount of money.
Addiction. People are psychologically addicted to fast foods. This is like asking poor people why they don't quit smoking to save money.
Speaking as someone who worked fourteen hour days in the video game industry for fucking peanuts... explain when I was supposed to cook dinner. And I live in a high CoL area - don't assume I had a stay at home partner or private chef or any of that bullshit. Most weekends I'd sleep straight through to catch up on sleep I had lost during the week.
Also if you've spent hours slaving away in front of a stove working fast food, the idea of spending a few hours more slaving in front of your own stove to make dinner isn't particularly tempting.
Fast food isn't cheap, so you weren't doing any favors to yourself if you were actually making peanuts (tip: if you were eating Fast food regularly, you were better off financially than you thought). It takes like 120 seconds out of the day to prepare enough rice to last a person a whole day. Throw on some washed veggies to steam at the same time. There are definitely better options out there.