Several other companies have become important targets for boycott even though their ties to the Israeli occupation or genocide are less direct, meaning they do not provide fundamental services or equipment to the Israeli government or occupation forces.
Popular Boycott or “Organic” Targets
Starbucks – Organic Consumer Boycott
There are two reasons Starbucks has been the focus of organic consumer boycott calls over the past several years, and particularly now with the onslaught on Gaza in 2023. The first reason has to do with former CEO and billionaire Howard Schultz. Schultz is a major supporter of the Zionist project, making him the awardee of a “Tribute Award” at the 50th anniversary of the Nakba for his efforts “promoting a close alliance between the US and Israel.” Other recipients of this award include both Margaret Thatcher and Joe Biden. Schultz continues to invest concertedly in Israeli companies. Due to previous organic boycott pressure on Starbucks on account of Schultz, the company declared in 2014 that it does not provide support to the Israeli government or army—and that neither did Schultz. Prior to that, after the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising in 2002, Starbucks closed its last store in Israel due to pressure related to Schultz’s purported donations to the Israeli occupation forces, which he denied. All of this background makes Starbucks a common target for popular boycotts, given that a prominent supporter of Israel continues to profit from the company as a top individual shareholder, along with top institutional shareholders like Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock—another much-maligned investment company that has large-scale investments in Lockheed Martin, RTX and other weapons companies directly enabling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. The second major reason for the boycott of Starbucks is the company’s union-busting activities, as Palestine solidarity organizing represents an intersectional campaign in support of labor, human rights, climate justice, anti-racism, and other progressive movements. Starbucks Workers United posted a tweet expressing solidarity with Palestine after the October 7th attacks on Israel, causing even former CEO Schultz to seek to boycott and target Starbucks locations with workers who were maligned as “terrorist sympathizers.” The company has now used this tweet, since taken down, to attempt to sue the union as another union-crippling measure. In the Middle East, widespread boycott of Starbucks is also symbolic of consumer’s rejection of an American company seen as a proxy for the US—particularly as the Biden administration aids and abets the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. The company also became a strategic target for campus-based organizing due the prevalence of central Starbucks locations on US campuses.
This boycott campaign is already having a visible impact on the company’s share prices, with many stores seeming empty globally and some locations closing down. This impact sends a warning to other companies that may weaponize anti-Palestinian suppression to union-bust or otherwise retaliate against workers—this will not be tolerated by everyday consumers during an ongoing genocide. Likewise, as an organic boycott, the Starbucks boycott shows our power to change consumption patterns in a show of solidarity and to prevent major Zionist investors from profiting during a genocide and siege of Gaza. We hope this campaign against Starbucks can motivate the company to cease its anti-union activities and use its social impact funds to donate toward humanitarian efforts for Gaza.
McDonald’s – Organic Consumer Boycott
Calls to boycott McDonald’s began in October 2023 as McDonald’s franchises in Israel announced they were giving away free food to Israeli occupation forces as a show of support for Israel’s operations in Gaza, despite the genocidal intent expressed by Israeli governmental leaders and the war crimes that Israel immediately undertook in its response to the October 7th attacks. McDonald’s franchises across the Middle East put out statements noting that the actions of Israeli branches did not reflect the views of the company, with some franchises even donating to humanitarian efforts in Gaza. The company has continued to be an organic target particularly in the Middle East as a symbolic protest of American foreign policy as well as the Israeli branches’ actions.
McDonald’s has faced serious consequences in the Middle East in particular, but also across the globe. The BNC uplifted this organic boycott because of the company’s direct support for the Israeli military in the most recent attacks on Gaza. Despite McDonald’s franchise model with dispersed decision-making and lack of corporate hierarchy on such political decisions, this boycott effort sends an important message to companies that deal with or openly support the Israeli military: consumers will hold them responsible. Notably, Burger King stores have been targeted with organic boycott campaigns for a similar reason globally and especially in Muslim-majority countries, but this is not a focus of ours for the US context.
Pizza Stores: Pizza Hut, Dominoes & Papa Johns – Organic Consumer Boycott
Several major US pizza chains have become the target of organic boycotts spread through social media. The BDS movement’s official Twitter account has uplifted the organic consumer boycotts of Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s because of “donations to Israel’s genocidal military” effort (tweet no longer available). These targets are not of relative strategic importance compared to others in the organic consumer boycott category. The connections between these companies and Israeli crimes are indirect, but the most direct of them is Pizza Hut, whose parent company is 25% owned by a holding company that directly contributes to Israel’s theft of Palestinian land (the parent company also owns Taco Bell and KFC but boycott has been less concerted on those). The second would be Dominoes which has openly provided free meals to the Israeli army amid the genocide in Gaza.
Popular or “organic” boycotts of Wix, Burger King, and others are not core targets for the BDS movement even as BNC has uplifted them as possible popular targets. While individuals may choose to boycott them due to their ties to Israel, we do not focus our boycott call on those companies in order to focus a large effort on a smaller set of targets.