ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on contemporary consumer boycotts and their role in stimulating changes in corporate policy and procedures. It discusses boycotts as a special type of activity and shows that they take on a variety of forms. The chapter looks at marketplace-oriented boycotts, which are one such form; they are defined and analyzed in terms of their role in corporate change. Having identified marketplace-oriented boycotts and distinguished them from media-oriented boycotts, people look next at their likelihood of success in affecting corporate policy. Research shows that several characteristics of marketplace boycotts are often associated with achievement of their goals, that is, the consequence considerations. The last few decades have witnessed a far greater use of media-oriented boycotts by political consumer advocates of policy changes, who in earlier years had opted for marketplace-oriented boycotts. Supporters of marketplace-oriented boycotts need to understand the logic of market-based political action for their boycotts to be successful and effective.
