Claiming they're not anti-capitalist, just "anti-crapitalist," the Occupy movement is encouraging its supporters to boycott some of America's major retailers today as part of "Occupy Black Friday."
The movement's website lists several publicly traded corporations, and provides a link to a list of the top 100 businesses to boycott in 2010. They claim that they have no intention of harming small businesses, just the big, bad corporately-owned ones.
"Occupy Black Friday" doesn't seem to have too much support -- with barely more than 1,000 "likes" on Facebook -- but in response to this foolish, if small, crowd, be sure to hit the following stores today:
- Abercrombie & Fitch
- Amazon.com
- AT&T Wireless
- Burlington Coat Factory
- Dick's Sporting Goods
- Dollar Tree
-The Home Depot
-Neiman Marcus
-Office Max
-Toys'R'Us
-Verizon Wireless
-Wal-Mart
While they claim they don't wish to harm small businesses, they don't seem to understand the interconnectedness of the economy. In addition to being some of the country's biggest retailers, these stores are also some of America's biggest employers -- and it's those employees who suffer the most from protests like this.
"Retailers, regardless of their size, are an important part of the community, and they employ friends and neighbors of that community across the country," said Joseph LaRocca, a senior adviser to the National Retail Federation specializing in loss prevention.
In response to this protest, the Tea Party has launched "BUYcott Black Friday," in which they urge patriotic Americans to go support businesses and give the economy a boost:
Liberate Philadelphia/Liberate America, a Tea Party coalition of groups countering the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, are challenging the latest move by Occupy Wall Street protesters to occupy or boycott publicly traded retailers on Black Friday by instead encouraging consumers to shop on Black Friday to help the economy recover.
"At a time when our economy is most fragile and ratings agencies are talking about another downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, it's completely irresponsible for Occupy Wall Street to attempt to bring the U.S. economy to a halt on the busiest shopping day of the year," Liberate organizer and a spokesman for the Tea Party, John Sullivan, stated in a press release.
Retailers are hoping that today's sales traffic will give the economy a bump in the right direction, and even if you're not one for the crowds and the noise, these Occupiers have made it easy to contribute from your home, since they're boycotting Amazon. Happy shopping!
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