Hi. The past few days I have been getting pummeled via e-mail and social media to “Dump Starbucks”. If anyone is unfamiliar, it’s basically campaign to boycott Starbucks for a written endorsement of gay marriage. The funny thing is that much of this campaign is internet based yet, Google, Amazon and MICROSOFT have given similar endorsements. Pathetically hypocritical. I don’t think this stuff does any good and within months most of these people involved in the boycott just seem to ease back into business with these corporations or shop “only if they really need something”. I know what I think…What do YOU think?
i can’t access it at work, but you may be able to find a rather good video on the subject of boycotting by Pastor Bob Beeman. i think it’s called “Stop boycotting” or similar…
i may be able to post a link later.
the subject of boycotting something on religious grounds is a frequent one for north american christians. it doesn’t appear to be so common over here. there was one guy that told us we should boycott Starbucks due to them having some pagan goddess on their sign. i don’t know if that’s true, but i’m sorry…Starbucks is my only source of egg nog (that i don’t have to make myself) in the UK, and thus while i’d rather spend less money on coffee, i’ll definitely not be boycotting them around Christmas time.
Ben and Jerry’s has done a similar stance on gay marriage, renaming a flavour to Apperly Ever After, i believe.
personally, this issue is not one that even remotely tempts me to boycott. personally, i’m all for real love. there isn’t enough love in the world.
however, maybe if i change the issue, i can think of a reason to boycott something. a company that claims to be all natural and pro animal rights etc recently supported a fake charity in a drive to get reptile keeping as pets banned. the “charity” (actually a registered company) used alot of false information in their propaganda (verifiably false information…they were destroyed in a radio interview i heard by the head of the Federation of British Herpetologists…the “charity’s” reasoning was simply “it’s just wrong”, where the FBH chap had facts and figures on his side).
anyway, that for me, even i was tempted to use a rancidly stinky shop full of multicoloured goo of various kinds, was enough for me to start spreading the word that they supported a dodgy company whose sole goal was not the protection of animals, but the lining of their pockets with campaign funds. also, their campaign would lead to the culling!!! of many innocent creatures. animal rights indeed 
and they ignored the trade in dead animals and habitat destruction which are the real threats to nature…
also, i boycotted Titanic, because i was annoyed at the constant advertising! i am also considering boycotting The Hobbit, as i can’t believe after the hash Peter Hackson made of The Lord of the Rings they’re letting him muck up another of Tolkein’s masterpieces!
anyway in all seriousness…i can see the need to support companies that treat employees and the environment well. i can see the need to support companies that champion human rights (IMO, such as marriage for anyone of legal age). i can see the need to boycott companies that unthinkingly support unhelpful charities (such as the animal rights group i mentioned above). i can see the need to boycott companies that destroy acres of rainforest for palm plantations or cattle feeding grounds.
what’s odd to me is why, especially in America, and especially among evangelicals, gay marriage is seen as such a threat?! who does it hurt, really? even if it’s wrong in God’s eyes (which i doubt strongly), why does it concern anyone else? surely God can disclipline His own children? and wouldn’t that first be the judgemental types that condemn gay people? that’s certainly how Jesus operated…like Father like Son.
let them that pass judgement on their fellow humans be warned.
Divorce has done so much more to threaten Christianity than gay marriage and the Bible is extremely clear on the matter. Makes me wonder why we aren’t as concerned about heterosexual marriages?
game set and match 
My thought is that a boycott is a coercive action, and the question that brings up for me is, “Should I treat a corporate citizen differently than an individual?” Only in a Machiavellian mindset can love and coercion be viewed as compatible, imo.
I’m all for people having the freedom to vote with their feet and money (and for a company to support whatever cause they choose), but I would have to ask myself if a company’s action is either demonstrably harmful to people or things, or is actually evil, before I could support and propagate a boycott action. I see too many Christians here in the States getting caught up so much in fighting what they perceive to be evil that they seem to lose sight of demonstrating Christ’s love in their words and deeds. Is it better for us as Christians to harangue people and companies into line with our desires (or our concept of God’s desire) or to set an example that is so good and loving that they would want to join us?
well said! another game set and match!
I guess for me the issue IS gay marriage, just like it is for those who boycott because of it. The difference is that I don’t see it as an issue worth boycotting over. It’s not that I completely agree with gay marriage, it’s just that there are more important issues than that to boycott. Boycotting a company because they support the rights of 2 CONSENTING ADULTS to get married whilst happily eating chocolate products made with cocoa cocoa beans picked by CHILD SLAVE LABOR seems like straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. What would Jesus be more concerned about?
I still have many evangelical friends and go to an evangelical church and I and can tell you that they think that the laws about marriage are the last thing between us and complete oblivion! Again, I just don’t care much about what 2 consenting adults do! SHOULD I? And Paul: 1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
I am proud to be an American. I love our Constitution and I know that evangelicals THINK they do to. How can we claim to love it and stand for it when it’s guarantee of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” are only given to those we choose? Aren’t these rights given to everyone here? Of course no one has the right to pursue his happiness at the expense of anothers pursuit of happiness…That is a CRIME. BUT, I don’t see how gay marriage is doing any of this. They are adults. Let them stand before God and be responsible for their own lives.
… is roughly what I was going to post if you hadn’t got there first, sass. 
I think it ties in with what Eric said about setting an example that is so good and loving that others will want to join us.
Having said that, I agree with corpselight that boycotting of itself isn’t necessarily a problem. If someone does feel God laying a particular issue on their heart - to use proper church-speak! 
- it’s probably a good idea to do something about it, rather than sinning by omission. I wouldn’t boycott for homosexuality myself, but for instance my husband refuses to holiday in countries where Christians (and other minorities) are oppressed by the state. It probably doesn’t make any difference, but at least we’re not complicit in what is being done.
(Slightly off-topic: Perhaps homosexuality is a big issue in part because it’s a cheap issue. Doesn’t hit the pocket, so it’s easier to follow God’s commands by boycotting gay-friendly businesses - if you think that is his command - than to forgo the cheap chocolate/coffee/clothing and fork out for fairtrade or organic wherever possible. Same can apply to other hot topics too, of course).
Exactly. Which is why Starbucks is being singled out and not Microsoft who did the same thing. They aren’t willing to dump Microsoft, the price is to high. What are they willing to do? Drive another block and buy Dunkin Donuts. That’s it. I told that to my friend who forwarded me the Dump Starbucks petition and she said I was being “dramatic”. To her, I’m splitting hairs, to me…It’s hypocrisy. Straight up. Oh well, always causing trouble I am.
I am sorry to change the subject, but dumping Microsoft in favor of Linux and other open source software is actually much cheaper. It just seems that dumping Microsft is costly because we think that it is either Microsoft or Apple, and of course Microsoft is cheaper than Apple. But we are forgetting a whole lot of alternatives there.
Anyways, I agree that boycotting isn’t the issue, its what we choose to boycott that is the issue. Starbucks is standing up for equality. Even if one thinks that homosexuality is a sin, why are we worried about that particular sin over the greed that runs rampant in our culture and leaves a ton of poor and starving people?
I have found the counter campaign to “Dump Starbucks”. Its clled “Thank Starbucks”. And apparently they are doing much better at collecting signatures.
Byronarn - cheaper at point of purchase, but more costly in terms of time setting stuff up, learning a new system, debugging it, and so forth. Especially if you’re not actually that interested in how computers work, but just want them to send emails and run a word processor of some sort. (My husband has a degree in Computer Science and even he has given up trying to make Ubuntu run on any of our machines!)
But I agree for the more basic, less nerdy stuff like Open Office and Firefox, both of which I love. 
However, as you say, it’s not about the producer we take issue with, but about the issue we choose to emphasise. Even if I were a total Linux fan, it would still be waaay easier and cheaper to boycott gay-friendly than to boycott slavery-friendly. Because I can switch to Linux and refuse to drink Starbucks, but chances are high that my computer will still be made of minerals from war zones, and that the people who made it were working and/or living in near-inhuman conditions. Slavery and/or cheap labour affects almost everything we use, but we’re more concerned about sexual orientation? We like our money and our self-esteem too much. It’s easier and cheaper to point the finger at Them. Much harder, and ultimately much more expensive, to point the finger at Us and change Our buying/using habits.
(Anyone who’s interested in this sort of thing might find the history of Haiti worth a closer look. It wasn’t always poverty-stricken. People there used to own their own small farms and not work in sweatshops. 
)
I think a much better reason to boycott Starbucks is that their coffee is awful.
Yeah, that’s pretty much why I don’t buy their coffee!
Well said, nimblewell
i typically don’t go to starbucks until Christmas time. they are largely the only source of egg nog around, unless i make it myself. Christmas isn’t complete (for a north american ex pat like me at least) without egg nog!
but usually the idea of paying £3 for a cup of coffee that i could either make myself, have for free at work, or just get cheaper somewhere is a bit more prohibitive. however, as i personally believe that gay marriage is an issue of equality, i would do the reverse of boycott starbucks because of this issue.
i notice Ben and Jerry’s have an ice cream flavour called Apperly Ever After (or at least according to the link i saw, i’ve not actually seen this in a shop). this is another company in favour of gay marriage…but who could possibly, regardless of their view on the morality of the issue, boycott them…not only are they ethical in their sourcing, they make flipping amazing ice cream!
also it seems to me that every few years someone wants to boycott starbucks for something!
i wonder why that is
I agree. Starbucks is too costly for me, as I am a poor college student. However, I also view gay secular marriage as an issue of equality. (As to religious marriage, I am not quite sure if gay marriage would be right, but I do believe that each church has the freedom to either accept gay marriages or reject them, to officiate them or to refuse to officiate them.) So if I had the money, I would definitely go there more often, just to support their stance on the issue!