Boycotts are bigger than ever
Bottom Line: Political activism is nothing new. The idea of making non-voting decisions based on political statements, positions, etc., is also not new. These concepts going mainstream is...and that's what's changing in today's hyper political environment.
Recently researcher Civic Science found the following...
28% of Americans are currently "boycotting" a company or brand (up from 22% last year and a record high)
Only 52% have never boycotted a company or brand (down from 61% a year ago – also a record)
So basically, half of the country has now boycotted something at some point with well over a quarter currently boycotting something and a trend that's growing. And here's the other thing – you might think it's largely kids or young adults, a la the 60's activists that largely were but it's not. While there's been a growing trend in boycotting and activism with young adults and a slight drop in X'ers – it's actually older adults that are the most likely to be boycotting right now. Current generations most likely to be boycotting:
#1: Gen Xer's
#2: Baby Boomers
#3: Millennials
The research is designed to find out trends rather than the specific boycotts underway, but one might imagine that a big part of the explanation is that majorities of X'ers and Boomers were Trump voters and would be among the more likely candidates to boycott particular news networks that've been hostile towards the administration and are also among the most likely to have supported the NFL. As we know, TV ratings for NFL broadcasts have dropped an average of 20% over the past two years. That's another likely catalyst here. To give you an idea of how things have changed... It's estimated that only 1.2% of Boomers were political activists during the 60's counter-culture days. You have 33% of Boomers who say they're currently boycotting something. The difference is that the average person that's part of a movement isn't likely to be visible, a la, Woodstock but instead to be quietly boycotting with their remote.