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Are You Doing No Buy Friday?
In case you’ve been off social media this week: Today is the economic blackout —a “Don’t Buy Stuff” Friday, in which participants are encouraged to skip Amazon, Walmart, Target, fast food restaurants and gas stations—for one day.
The boycott went viral online about a week ago and has been covered by the Washington Post, CBS News, and dozens of other news outlets. And I want to be clear, because this essay is going to make a bunch of you mad: I’m doing it! I will only shop local today! (I will try to only use cash? I don’t really understand that part?)
But I also want to talk about why this kind of social media-driven Day Of Action can so fast become a diet.
Let’s start with the murky origin story of this particular boycott. When the mainstream media trotted out to cover it, they all found the same “founder” to interview: John Schwartz, also known as “J” or “Jai,” the self-identified founder of The People’s Union USA.1 Schwartz has 273,000 followers on Instagram, where he is a pushing a GoFundMe to support his “movement” that has, as of this writing, raised a little over $71,000.
But the People’s Union is made up of Schwartz, and only Schwartz. And I can’t understand why nobody is talking about this, because: Those GoFundMe donations are going to… him.
In his bio, Schwartz identifies as “just a man who has lived through struggle, seen the truth, and decided to do something about it.” He goes on to describe an abusive childhood in Flushing, Queens where he taught himself to meditate at age six “to escape the pain of my home life,” before going on to work in delis and office jobs, run a company, and become a professional musician and drum teacher. “My lessons weren’t just about drumming, they were about life,” he writes. “About the mind. About breaking free from limitations.”
I’m sorry to speak so impolitely but: Truly. Sir. What the fuck? Schwartz says he was moved to launch the People’s Union because he “always knew something wasn’t right” about…something? “The system wasn’t built for people like me, or for most people at all,” he says. Sure, that resonates—just like that Hims and Hers Superbowl commercial tried to resonate by telling us “the system was built to keep us sick and stuck.” Gesturing at “this broken system” — is it healthcare? is it diet culture? is it capitalism?— is exactly what your favorite shirtless TikTok bro does before he starts to sell you his supplement line. It’s the “diets don’t work” of social justice rhetoric.
There is no People’s Union USA supplements line (yet, anyway??) but there is merch! There also isn’t any kind of plan. Schwartz “transcends political labels” and is fighting to “take the power back from billionaires,” but he offers few specifics: Which power, exactly? How is it being transferred back to “the people” (other than via his GoFundMe where “the people” is just him)?
Boycotts work best as an organizing strategy when they are used to pressure corporations into agreeing to specific demands. They also take longer than one day to work. As several Black activists on TikTok have noted in analyzing civil rights history (here and here): The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 lasted over 380 days and had the specific goal of ending the “back of the bus” seating rule for Black passengers.
Schwartz’s website includes a long list of demands, but they are not specific, or even all that coherent. Some of them — like “end price gouging” and um, be environmentally responsible? — Walmart, Amazon and Target could reasonably meet. But most of his list would require enormous legislative efforts, if not an overhaul of the entire federal government. It’s not hard to agree with Schwartz that we need “Healthcare for All” and “a humane pathway to citizenship” for immigrants. But one day of not shopping cannot possibly address those issues. Anyway, the point isn’t to “affect the stock market,” Schwartz told the Washington Post, but to get “corporations to at least pause and stop and notice.” Which is not the same as doing anything.
Schwartz’s list of demands reads like he copied and pasted talking points from Bernie Sanders, lefty TikToks, and maybe a Dr. Bronner’s soap bottle. Which is exactly what happens when one brave man with no apparent organizing experience who has “seen the truth” decides he can singlehandedly launch a movement centering himself (“If anyone else claims to represent this movement, it is fraudulent,” Schwartz reminds followers at the bottom of his FAQ page). Schwartz could have directed his energy towards figuring out how his… drumming experience could be remotely useful to all of the hardworking grassroots groups who have been organizing on these issues for literal decades. Instead, he’s posting self-help-ish videos where he assures us, “You are deserving!” and sells us t-shirts.
OK so we’ve got a call to action led by one man with a vision and a GoFundMe. That’s definitely checking some diet culture boxes for me, although to be a true diet, this boycott would have to involve more actual deprivation than Schwartz seems to have in mind. Surely, one reason this particular event is going so viral is because it promises to make us feel fired up, morally righteous and committed to change…but we only have to do it for 24 hours (and we can sleep for like 8 of those!). We can “boycott” today…just by waiting until tomorrow to press checkout on that Target cart. We can ignore that sneaking certainty that we’ll still wind up buying something (or five things) during the next Prime Day bonanza. We can protest and then walk right back into our normal lives. When I raised my concerns about Schwartz to a friend this week, she countered that boycotts are still a powerful strategy—and I agreed, noting that I quit Amazon in January. “Oh wow,” she said. “I really should, but as you know, it’s so hard with kids.”
I’m not even mad at us for that hypocrisy. (And it IS hard with kids!) These brands have invested millions in understanding our shopping patterns and spending cycles. They can withstand one slow Friday. To be fair, Schwartz does promise that there will be more boycotts beyond today—and reminds you to become an exclusive (paying) member to get “early access” to details about those upcoming actions.
Of course, most people participating in the boycott today have never heard of Schwartz or his movement. He may have gotten the first round of media quotes, but Al Sharpton is now rolling out his own boycott strategy, and many nonprofits are posting about the boycott as a way to raise awareness about their own causes. The adorable red rabbit above was drawn by artist Martha Rich, who appears in no way affiliated with Schwartz. His own graphics lean more towards the Black power fist, which is both potentially problematic appropriation, and definitely not as Instagram-friendly.
So is there still any power in lots of us not shopping today?
Without a more coherent plan and set of demands, it’s hard to see what today can possibly achieve in terms of social change. It feels more like the 36 hour MasterCleanse you did before your sister’s wedding than any kind of sustainable “lifestyle change.” This week alone, we’ve watched the Republicans start to gut Medicaid and SNAP, while Elon continues to purge the federal workforce and dismantle USAID. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos decided the Washington Post’s Opinion section will now only stump for his conservative agenda, and Trump took control of the White House Press Pool. The badness feels relentless right now because it is.
That means we do need to look for reasons to hope. And maybe that hope is a red bunny and a plan to shop local today. Maybe this can be a first day, instead of just one day. As we’ve already discussed here on Burnt Toast, the impact of any of us individually divesting from billionaire-run brands is murky at best. It’s also not doable for everyone, the only way to take action, or even arguably the most effective. Calling your reps early and often is something we can all do for free, today and every day, and will do much more to hold Congress accountable for stopping the worst of the Trump administration’s initiatives. If you want to give dollars, consider supporting the GoFundMes for fired government workers instead of Schwartz’s, or donating to organizations supporting immigrants, trans rights, reproductive justice, and more. Corinne introduced me to Chop Wood, Carry Water, an excellent resource for daily action items if you need more ideas; please drop your own ideas in the comments!
And yet: I absolutely felt good about my decision to quit Amazon when I saw the WashPo news this week. In fact, it inspired me to log back on and finally cancel my Prime membership, which had been lingering on my to do list since we recorded this episode. (And I joined Costco! And ordered my protein powder from them, for everyone who has been worrying about that for me.) Jeff Bezos won’t miss my $14.99 per month, but I also won’t miss giving it to him.
Interrogating my own relationship with consumerism, and inviting more friction and discomfort, into my ability to give dollars to reckless billionaires feels valuable right now. I hope it’s a little bit good for the larger world, but I know it’s probably even better for my own ability to feel like I’m living in line with my values. Changing how we shop can feel like taking a tiny bit of control back amid the chaos. And we need that right now. So don’t buy today — but that includes not buying what Schwartz is selling either. Because yet another man sweeping in to tell us what to do and how to think is actually the last thing any of us need.
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Post-Publication Note: A few hours after I published this piece, the New York Times broke the news that in 2007, Schwartz was sentenced by a Connecticut judge to 90 days in jail and five years’ probation for disseminating voyeuristic materials. He denied the charges to their reporter. You can read the full story here.
Shout-out to Corinne for putting The One Called Jai on my radar this week.
I’m thinking of today’s consumer boycott as a sort of “roll call” to see how many people care enough to actually do something (anything). $$$ spent on cards is effectively trackable in real time, so any noticeable dip will be immediately clear with a minimum of digging.
I think the no credit card is because transaction on cards give money to the card companies. I agree that one day isn’t much but it is also something. As someone who does care about where I buy things but has let go of that a lot with kids, this boycott is a helpful reminder that my family can do more to change how and where we put our money. I also think small actions like this boycott have the potential to grow and we have to start somewhere. It can feel good to do (or not do) something more concrete than calling and hoping our representatives will listen. And both matter and we can think about how much more we are willing to do or give up to change things for the better.