Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Nationwide Starbucks "reverse boycott", or BUYcott, brings in many generous customers


by Chad D. Baus

On February 14, 2012 gun rights advocates across the country provided an economic stimulus to their local Starbucks stores. The effort came together in response to the January 23 announcement that of a Valentine's Day boycott scheduled by an anti-self-defense group calling itself the "National Gun Victim's Action Council." The group is demanding that Starbucks, which takes a neutral position on concealed carry, change its corporate policy and prohibit guns in the stores.

Once learning of the boycott, gun owners sprang into quick action, organizing a "reverse boycott" and taking a page from the NGVAC by coordinating through Facebook. Support for the "reverse boycott" was so successful that, before Valentine's Day arrived, the NGVAC was reportedly forced to remove the list of boycott participants from public view on its Facebook event page after the tiny number was dwarfed by more than 24,500 Facebook users committing to participate in the "reverse boycott." (What they cannot hide, however, is the tiny number of followers on this supposedly national anti-gun groups' Facebook page - just 258. By comparison, Buckeye Firearms Association has over 11,700.)

Many participants agreed to pay and/or tip with $2 bills to signify support for the Second Amendment. And while it is impossible to measure the exact financial boost the reverse boycott had on Starbucks' bottom line, the anecdotal evidence posted at the Facebook event page for the 'BUYcott' suggests it was substantial. The comments also suggest that most store managers weren't aware of the NGVAC boycott, but they were definitely aware of the increased business thanks to gun owners!

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