Majority Of Shoppers Would Boycott Brand Over Politics: Report

The partisan divide which has bifurcated American society is increasingly impacting how consumers shop, according to a new study released by Savings.com.

Angry Consumers: In a nationwide poll of 1,008 adults, more than 50% of respondents said they were more likely to boycott a brand for political reasons today compared to how they felt one year ago.

Among those polled by Savings.com, 61% of Democrats said they were likely to boycott over politics compared to 41% of Republicans, while 47% of all respondents said they were more likely to spend money with a brand they align with politically.

Furthermore, 25% of respondents were still sore over last year’s presidential election and would likely boycott a company or brand based on what happened during that campaign.

As for the ongoing pandemic, 46% of Democrats said they would boycott over lenient COVID-19 policies versus 28% of Republicans, although 31% of Republicans would boycott if policies were too strict versus 21% of Democrats.

Nonetheless, politics isn’t always the controlling factor in consumer behavior – 38% of respondents said poor customer service was their biggest turnoff, with 37% citing mistreatment of their employees.

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Allied In Ideas: Boycotts have a history of hit-or-miss results. Attempts to organize boycotts against companies whose chief executives supported former President Trump’s re-election – most notably the privately-held Goya Foods Inc. and My Pillow Inc. – did not catch on with the wider public.

Last month’s decision by Major League Baseball to relocate the All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest over the state’s updated voter law created a brief flurry of anger from those opposed to the move and equal cheer of praise from those who supported it, including President Biden. However, taking the game out of Atlanta did not influence Georgia lawmakers to rethink their actions.

Sara Korab, Savings.com’s retail trends director, predicted consumers will not participate in overt boycott campaigns, but will quietly give their support and dollars to companies whose values align with their beliefs.

“Our data shows that while deep divides exist along partisan lines, the average person is more likely to spend money with brands that share their views than they are to punish ones that don’t,” she said. “And there’s reason to believe this phenomenon will deepen and expand, as few people say they became less concerned about the intersection of business and politics in 2020.”

(Photo by txmx 2 / Flickr Creative Commons.)