Are you planning to boycott BP?
As of May 5, the Associated Press reported there didn’t appear to be a consumer backlash against BP. Some commenters on our own Biz Beat blog said accidents happened and the overall feeling on the blog on May 5 wasn’t too angry.
However, 22 days later I’ve been hearing more moms talking about boycotting BP. I kept hearing snippets at the school picnic on Wednesday of moms reminding other moms not to stop at the BP. I also was involved in a conversation about it at the Kroger gas station.
What are you hearing and seeing in your community? Are you planning to boycott BP?
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159 comments Add your comment
DB
May 31st, 2010
11:06 am
@tbug: As far as I can tell past your numerous grammatical and spelling errors, you think that the accident could be prevented. To say that “BP (got) away with not hving equipent (sp) inspected for four years” implies that BP has been drilling in this location for four years, when, in reality, they didn’t start drilling until February of this year.
BP had the required blowout preventer, but it didn’t have an acoutically-controlled shut-down which MAY have helped — and which was NOT required by the Minerals Management Services (a division of the Dept. of the Interior. The blowout ripped out all the safety measures in place — there is no reason to think that an additional measure would have been any more successful.
DB
May 31st, 2010
4:48 pm
Hmm, before I start throwing stones, I guess I had better check my own spelling!
“could have been” prevent, “acoustically-controlled”, left out a parenthesis . . . sheesh. Back under my rock. . .
GailWhite
June 1st, 2010
8:13 am
Remember when you buy BP
And hear it softly seethe,
The oil that runs your SUV
Is hard for fish to breathe.
An oil slick threatens oyster beds
And dolphins in the Gulf.
It’s time to yell for corporate heads
And tell BP “Enough!”
Miles Jones
June 1st, 2010
5:31 pm
Already am with these http://cafepress.com/bpsticker. One on the mini-van, one on husband’s work car, and one on our son’s car.
obx62570
June 2nd, 2010
12:19 am
Do you really want to make a difference? My 16 year old son has organized a donation drive to collect DAWN (blue) dishwasing liquid to be donated to the International Bird Research and Rescue Center (ibrrc.org). We have collected over 300 bottles in just 10 days! This is the organization who are already deployed on the coast to help save birds and other wildlife affected by the oil spill. OR… send a cash or food donation to a church or other organization who is reaching out to feed the fisherman/shrimpers and their familes on the Gulf Coast whose livelihood has been destroyed as a result of this travesty. If you REALLY want to make a difference, focus your time, effort and contributions towards positive solutions instead of negative reactions.
dixie212
June 2nd, 2010
6:16 am
I wouldn’t put BP gasoline in my car if it were being GIVEN away!
my choice to boycott them won’t phase them in the least … they’ll never know, but I will – and that’s more important to me
@Truth: BP hasn’t done anything to clean up this mess & it’s not a ‘leak’ or a ’spill’ it’s a GUSHING well … the site of dead fish & birds and those covered in oil from this well a mile below the surface is heart breaking
@obx62570: your son sounds like a great kid!
for those interested, here are some other BP brands to stop using & buying:
Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm, Amoco, Wild Bean Cafe, Safeway Gas
http://www.wwltv.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/Upset-Nungesser-walks-out-on-Coast-Guard-meeting-95356484.html
dixie212
June 2nd, 2010
6:18 am
BP’s Live Video Feed of ” Leak ” Site: http://www.citizen.org/boycott-bp
Frank
June 2nd, 2010
5:02 pm
To BoyCott BP at this time is, completely the WRONG thing to do !!
Reality is !! .. BP will need all the support they can get to cap this well, which means purchasing their products !! .. Once they have successfully capped the well ? A BoyCott should be considered at that time !! .. It will take every resourse BP can muster to cap this oil well !! Don’t be foolish & think the U.S Government can cap it.. They can’t !! .. The only people that can do this work is the oil companies & if BP goes broke trying to cap it, another oil company will have to step in & try to cap it, NOT some politian from Washington !!
chuck
June 2nd, 2010
6:42 pm
u betyou! last week a BP station in Conyers, GA was more then 30 cents higher a gallon then those just one street up. Guess BP is trying to get their customers to pay for the clean up! No company is too big to fail..
Don
June 3rd, 2010
8:48 am
BP also owns Castrol Motor Oil, their ads are all over TV, Offices in Wayne, NJ.
Why not Boycott all of Castrol, BP Gas and Oil Products?
What about Aviation Services, no word on Boycotting BP Aviation Products?
President Obama should halt ALL US sales of BP Products until action is taken.
Jim
June 3rd, 2010
10:36 am
@obx62570: excellent ideas! Support those affected the best we can until BP & the gov step up to help.
@Miles Jones : Careful about the bumper stickers- they’re vinyl… probably made from some BP oil. And they can’t be recycled easily.
Overall, we can’t boycott BP. We depend on oil too much and don’t push hard enough for other energy sources. If you want to boycott anything, boycott oil dependency. Reduce consumption as much as possible. Research the products you use, become informed. Use no petroluem based cleaners in your house, for example. Try to avoid plastics (I know- in this society it’s nearly impossible). Support candidates with an alternative energy agenda.
In the meantime, use greener alternatives- after you research if they’re really as green as they imply. Manufacturing and using a prius is more environmentally damaging than a hummer over the life span of the respective vehicles.
When it comes to boycotting BP, as others have stated, remember that you’re not hitting BP- you are hitting local businesses.
If you want to make a difference focus on not using oil as much as you can. Support green alternatives. This time it was BP… who has the next accident? Which company will you support? Regardless of the guilty company, it’s always the oil industry – stop supporting them so we don’t need to have exploding oil rigs.
Melissa Faulkner
June 3rd, 2010
10:37 am
I just wanted to point out that yes boycotting will hurt the small business owner, BUT these people paid to be part of the BP franchise. They SELL BP products. So, put that together. They are supporting BP for you. Don’t buy their gas and you don’t give money to BP. Yes a massive boycott does make a difference. As far as the local business owner, let them take their money and invest it in a more responsible company. Yes times are hard, but you have to consider the business practices and environmental responsibility of the companies you choose to purchase franchises in.
For those of you worrying about BP running out of money, DON’T! This has barely been a drop in the bucket for them.
Here is an excerpt from seizebp.org, feel free to check the facts yourself:
” ‘Citigroup analysts have formally advised investors not to worry too much about “the likely costs to the company [BP].’ The Citigroup analysis notes that punitive damages against Exxon for the Exxon-Valedz oil spill in 1989 were originally set by the courts at $5 billion but reduced by 90 percent when the case reached the Supreme Court in 2008. The total cost to Exxon was $500 million in compensation damages and $500 million in punitive damages. The total cost imposed on Exxon after 20 years of litigation amounted to only $1 billion, or the equivalent of just 12 days worth of BP’s pure profits ($93 million per day) in the first three months of this year. Because of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP and any other oil company that is responsible for an offshore oil accident is not legally required to pay more than $75 million in damages above the oil recovery costs. Thus, the government’s response to the Exxon Valdez accident was to actually protect the Oil Giants by limiting their liability and risk exposure in the event of a catastrophic accident. Again, the $75 million limit is less than 1 day of BP’s pure profits in 2010.”
BP is notorious for bad business practices. In fact, a BP pipe just broke in Alaska that spilt 100,000 gallons of oil. They are out of control and as far as I’m concerned, they deserve to go under.
Kasey
June 3rd, 2010
11:15 am
About Dawn’s contribution to saving ocean life: It states in small print on the bottle that you must go to a website and register the bottle of Dawn that you purchased so that they will make the $1.00 contribution to save the ocean creatures. Be sure to go to that website and register so that your purchase will count. I use Dawn for that very reason, too. This is just FYI so that your $$ will be contributed. Thanks!
Kasey
June 3rd, 2010
11:19 am
Here is a link to a wonderful site for those of you who are interested:
http://na.oceana.org/
Kasey
June 3rd, 2010
11:28 am
Now that I have taken care of that business I would just like to say that IMO BP has so much wealth that they really don’t care what it costs or how long it takes to (if ever) fix this major atrocity. It seems to me that they don’t even know HOW to stop the leak. Maybe all of those BP station owners should change suppliers.
At this point, taking into account all the damage BP has done and continues to do to our coast line, Marine life, the economy, even the quality of air we breathe here in the US, they should provide gas and oil at no charge to us for a long, long time in addition to completely, fully and irreversibly repairing the leaks and completing the entire clean up. JMO
Suzanne
June 3rd, 2010
1:06 pm
No, I do not intend to participate in an BP station boycott because it is a stupid way of trying to correct a very serious problem. In fact, I will purposely buy from BP now to try and counter the negative effect of any boycott on the local people where I live. I live on the gulf coast (have no connection with politics or oil companies whatsoever), and am right by large federal nature reserves. I love and greatly respect my environment. The tactic of a BP boycott will fail and only hurt all the ‘little people’ who are already suffering in this economic downturn. If there are people out there who want to do anything positive as a reaction to this horrible, horrible, situation, and want to send a loud message to the “big people” out there, (not just those running BP or oil companies, but those board members and directors in every organization), people should try and come together as a group, and try and see if there is a way of buying BP shares on block (as a group) and then try to get their members voted onto the board of BP to change the way the company is run (its practices and procedures – the way a culture of safety always comes second to profit making). This has been done with other companies before (not oil), by other groups of people who want to see a change in an organizations’ culture. All that people involved in a boycott do is harm the local economy, and the boycott will only hurt the locally owned BP gas station owners, their local employees, their local suppliers and their families. Oil is in relatively short supply, and what oil BP does not sell through its gas stations, it will sell to other countries who need it – like China. A boycott is a pure waste of time and hurts only the innocent families caught up in this situation – the local employees – the men, the women, their spouses , and just remember – their children too. A boycott is too simple and too lazy an answer to a very complicated problem, that desperately needs solving quickly. And, a problem (safety) I would add, that both the US Congress and government administrations (in general – both Republican and Democrat ), have long failed to address (time and time again), and have consistently turned a blind eye to. This is because politicians in general (both Republican and Democrat) have been very willing to accept money from all oil lobbying groups and oil related organizations, in return for not mandating oil related activities and processes have much higher federally mandated safety standards than those currently in existence in the USA already. These high safety standards, I may add, have often already been implemented elsewhere in many other parts of the world. These companies should be run with the primary core principle and philosophy (which comes second to none) of continually and proactively trying to make their systems and processes safer for their employees and their environment, just as they continually and consistently try all means and methods to maximize their profit line. DO NOT BOYCOTT!
Jim
June 3rd, 2010
1:59 pm
Again, people, research what you’re buying! Dawn dish soap is made from the very stuff pouring into the gulf! Support companies putting out non-petro based cleaners! Very ironic that the stuff killing the wildlife is used to clean up! Boycott the industry and support companies and representatives with green agendas.
BMWRICK
June 3rd, 2010
3:11 pm
Yes, I have already started. I refuse to do business with BP, based on what has happened in the gulf and with BP getting permission to dump more waste into Lake Michigan
James
June 3rd, 2010
7:52 pm
People who think they are boycotting BP by taking their business to other stations don’t have a clue, but go feel ok, please. All the major oil companies sell branded (BP, etc) and unbranded gasoline, which goes to everyone else who sells gasoline. Do you think Kroger, Ingles, Costco, etc, have their own refineries? Where do you think they buy it? Answer: From the major oil companies. The are 11,000 stations in the US that sell BP gas. Many were the old Amoco stations that were then bought by BP. BP owns less than 200 of these 11,000 and none in GA. As for the local operators, they are not franchises, and do not pay a fee to BP. They have a supply contract with BP which REQUIRES them to buy only from BP. It is often a multi year contract so they don’t have a choice. So while you are boycotting them and going down the street to buy your “non-BP” gas from someone else, just remember that you really don’t have a clue as to who is supplying the gas you are actually buying. The only thing you will really know is that you are hurting a local citizen who has invested in your community, created jobs, and pays taxes. And one last thing. If somehow you were successful in no BP gas being sold (BP provides about 10% of all gas in US) who is going to make up the 10 percent of lost supply? Its not like there’s all that excess gas out there, so you will get shortages, higher prices, and panic buying.
Nice to know this boycott has been so well thought out.
norma sasser
June 4th, 2010
9:43 am
one look at suffering animals, and after crying my eyes out, i got angry, and i will never buy gas from bp, i would rather walk
Jim
June 4th, 2010
9:53 am
@norma sasser – read the post above yours and reconsider. If you are that angry then do something that will actually make a difference – stop using oil.
Wow
June 4th, 2010
11:29 am
I don’t even think that there’s a BP station anywhere near us. So I don’t use them anyway since I go to RaceTrac or Kroger. I hope all the ones who are up in arms against BP also have boycotted Citgo based on the profits going to the anti-U.S. Chavez in Venezuela. I have boycotted Citgo for years.
B
June 4th, 2010
2:51 pm
This may have already been mentioned but boycotting BP gas only hurts the local station owner. If people start buying their gas from Shell or Exxon, BP will just sell those companies its surplus gasoline. Regardless of the brand of gas you buy, it all comes through the same pipeline. The only difference is the extra additives are put in later. End result of a Boycott Local owner gets screwed and the corporation still brings in huge profits.
B
June 4th, 2010
2:53 pm
Had I read the posts closer, I would of seen the above posts.
Georgia
June 4th, 2010
4:55 pm
BP is not in the retail gas station business. BP sales gas to independents. If you boycot BP you hurt mom and pop.. bottom line.
jenn
June 4th, 2010
8:42 pm
For all of you so-called “Patriots” why dont you all drive your land yachts to afghanistan, because the troops need them a hell of a lot more than you do! I bet most of you support the war for oil……
Ole Guy
June 5th, 2010
8:38 pm
Boycotting a BP gas station is like boycotting a particular bar because the bartender threw you out for drunken behavior. By the very nature of our energy-dependent lifestyles, we have created the makings of this fiasco. It could have just as well been any of a dozen or so rigs in the gulf to which this accident happened; they ALL would have reacted exactly the same…minimize the damage, spend millions on media presentations which serve only to protect the corporate image while paying token crews next-to-minimum wage to APPEAR to be doing something of use.
The best thing we, as responsible citizens, can do is alter our energy-dependent lifestyles. Would we, as a civilization, still require petro-based energy? of course…but to the degree we have allowed?
chris perugini
June 6th, 2010
3:07 am
just dont buy the gas at the bp gas stations you can buy soda and candy and what ever else you need
James
June 6th, 2010
4:42 pm
Chris: Nice idea, but bottom line is that people won’t make 2 stops. That’s why they call them convenience stores.
Small Business Owner
June 6th, 2010
11:22 pm
I understand why people want to boycott BP and what has happened; however, boycotting BP at the pump is not hurting the company as much as it is hurting the station owners. There are other ways to show your distaste and dissatisfaction with BP but taking it out at the station really hurts our small business owners who… help our economy.
With that said, I will continue to patronize my local BP stations, as they are trying to earn a living. However unpopular.
Reason: Gas stations do not make much money off of the gas anyway — they really make their margins off of the convenience store purchases.
Source: my family owned an Amoco station many years ago — which was then bought out by BP after we sold the station and the land. The new owners did not have a choice in the supplier at that point and nor did we since we bought it from the original owners).
Helping small business owners who help drive our economy trump the small chance I may hurt the company which — I would not be doing, it would really only hurt the station owners.
http://bit.ly/cWpON2
Jan Deere
June 7th, 2010
11:22 pm
If you want to boycott BP, you can even do more than not buy gas. Re-direct, (at least partially) your 401K/retirement investments to other companies (check out company affiliates, etc. of BP, i.e., Vanguard). Contact your overseas friends/family and ask them to boycott too. If you still want to support community BP station owners, don’t buy the gas, but you can buy other products in their store. Look…REALITY CHECK…they are a part of this disaster, same as everyone in this country OK? Why wouldn’t they want to “buy” and/or “invest” in AMERICAN oil companies, or at least companies with the best safety records and ones that pay the most dividends to the US? Huh? They’ll just have to “get a grip”, like everyone else is going to have to…like in about another month or two when our economy begins to crash again, OK? Get this through your heads….BP is a “foreign” oil company! Whose “bigger”? The United States of America or BP? (and I ain’t talking about the US government! I’m talking about the American people!) Don’t let people “kid” you! BP is in it for the money and they are so greedy it is going to make them cringe to lose every dollar you don’t spend! And that BS about “we have to HELP BP pay for the “clean up”? My God, you fools! Save your money, your gonna need it soon….The Gulf coast states are the 27th largest economy in the WORLD! BP is the 3rd largest company in the WORLD. They didn’t get that way by being “nice”! Do you want to “help” them “pay” for their crimes against this COUNTRY? If you want to HELP “pay” for restoration/clean up, for God’s sake..DONATE MONEY TO THE COMMUNITIES IN THE GULF STATES! And P.S…..do you REALLY “think” BP is going to PAY for everything and everyone they have destroyed? You must be DREAMING! They are already trying to get out of compensating people and refusing to send equipment to the Gulf. Jesus, help those who appear to need to have a bomb dropped on their heads to “GET IT”!!!
Jackie
June 8th, 2010
12:46 pm
I wouldn’t take gas from BP if they were giving it away for free. If I know that another station is selling BP products, I will boycott them too. But to say that it doesn’t matter whether I boycott because I might inadvertently buy a BP product is complete BS.
BP tracks the sales of the stores with its logo on them, and even if they are locally owned, they are paying for the right to use that logo. If sales drop consistently at those stations, then they will have fewer small business owners that want to be associated with them. And they will be aware that the public has not turned a blind eye to this spill. I’m sorry if some mom & pop faces tough times because of a boycott, but every mom & pop shop, restaurant, and homeowner on the Gulf Coast is suffering, too. I swear, if I owned a BP right now, I would take all my grocery items and sell them from a cart with a sign saying I was boycotting the corporation too. I bet there would be enough people like me out there to keep me in business!
Besides, if you think the boycott is a bad idea, then what are YOU doing to help? Are you writing to your congressman to push for stronger regulations? Are you volunteering your time, money or supplies? Are you ordering products from small businesses on the coast? Are you going to vacation there even if the beaches are spoiled? If you do any of those things and you refuse to boycott, then I can at least respect your opinion. But this whole idea that “BP made a mistake and they’re doing their best” sounds like a rapist saying, “Sorry I raped your daughter – I had a few too many last night – but I’ll pay for the ER visit and counseling. So do you want to buy my stereo to help pay for my legal fees?”
Bea Otch
June 11th, 2010
11:46 am
No, I will not boycott my local BP gas stations even though Jesse Jackson told me to do it. Amen. A boycott won’t accomplish a thing except to put hardships on some good folks who are trying to make a living the best way they can. They shouldn’t be placed in the middle of all this. Trust our president peeps! Give him time…before you know it,
b-hussein-messiah will part the seas, cap the oil and then walk on water. After all, he always comes through on his promises… oh wait… um, that’s not really true. Welcome to Obama’s Katrina folks. Or maybe it’s his Iranian Hostage Crisis?? Whatever you want to call it, it’s verwy, verwy BAD.
Casey
June 12th, 2010
10:05 pm
Why in the hell would you stop at BP when you can go to another station right accross the street??
wmplga
June 12th, 2010
10:13 pm
No more BP for me. Sad I have been using the same BP station for 20 years but no more. Will walk before buying any BP gas
Roswell Dawg
June 12th, 2010
10:15 pm
Boycotting BP simply hurts thousands of innocent employees of BP. Any BP fuel not purchased by the consumer will be sold to other petroleum companies and retail dealers so you will still be purchasing from BP indirectly. Petroleum companies buy and sell from one another all the time. Those companies without their own refineries e.g. QT, Raceway, etc buy from all of the companies.
Fishhooks
June 12th, 2010
10:18 pm
I will never go to a BP again! Not that the other companies are much better though… We really need to conserve and use less oil whenever possible.
W Reid Whitaker
June 12th, 2010
10:19 pm
I will not boycott BP locally, because it is only hurting innocent employees.
t
June 12th, 2010
10:20 pm
why boycott BP ? All you are doing is hurting small business owners! If you want to boycott to it with Citgo!!
Thomas Pain
June 12th, 2010
10:22 pm
I used to buy BP oil exclusively. Now I avoid them.
But then again, I’m trying to cut down on my habit. This oil based culture/economy is not good long term for our economy, our politics, or our environment. I’ve gone from driving 35k miles a year in the early 90s to 15k miles a year, and last year I put 3k miles on my car. We moved from a big house in the country to a smaller house in close in suburbs and I can ride my bike to work and walk to the grocery store.
But when I do use fuel, it won’t be BP.
Fishhooks
June 12th, 2010
10:23 pm
If you want to see small business owners who are hurt, go to the gulf!!!
Jacksmum
June 12th, 2010
10:33 pm
Boycotting a company like BP puts small businesses out of business. It barely puts a dent in BP profits. Not to mention, BP was not the only owner of the well in question. There were more at fault than just the one company. Sad as it is, sadder still is that we are better at being angry and finger pointing than making changes that matter. Get us off of our dependency for foreign oil, then worry about getting us off of our dependency on oil.
Jacksmum
June 12th, 2010
10:34 pm
somewhat off topic question…does any one else think “stupid” every time they see someone driving a Smart car?
JD
June 12th, 2010
10:37 pm
To everyone who has been understandably moved by the pictures of the suffering birds — were you aware that most chickens used for food suffer a much more miserable life and fate? Just google the phrase “factory farming” and you will get an eye-opener.
If you want to engage in a boycott that will actually help reduce animal suffering, you might consider eating much lower down the food chain… eating exclusively plant-based food even a few times a week will make a world of difference.
Molly
June 12th, 2010
10:38 pm
While I fully understand the desire to make BP suffer, I am not convinced a boycott is the answer. If BP bankrupts, who will then end out paying the massive bill for this spill? Taxpayers, that’s who. Let them stay in business long enough to take care of this, THEN boycott away.
t
June 12th, 2010
10:40 pm
fishhooks two wrongs dont make it right.. It is hurting more small business owners by boycotting BP
John
June 12th, 2010
10:40 pm
The stupid – it burns!!!!
Fishhooks
June 12th, 2010
10:42 pm
If BP bankrupts, then other oil companies will watch their steps in the future and make sure another catastrophe like this doesn’t happen again.
Jerome
June 12th, 2010
10:43 pm
It does not matter whether you boycott BP or not. Like many has said on this forum, petroleum is sold as a commodity. Even if you do boycott BP, let’s just see what happens when a hurricane threatens the gulf and let’s see how many people will be boycotting when they are the only ones that have gas.
Fred
June 12th, 2010
10:44 pm
We should have the worlds governments shutdown BP. Close its doors and sell its assets to pay for the clean up. The hundreds of thousands of people that will become unemployed because of this deserve it because they were working for an evil corporation! Booo capitalism – hurray a moneyless utopia! We can do it! Change you can believe in baby!
I keed I keed.