Conscious consumption is a way of discouraging businesses’ unethical practices by choosing not to spend money there. When legislative action is taking too long, consumers’ refusal to participate and support a company in its unethical practices can be a strong way to make change. 

People who commit mass atrocities need money, and many times, that money comes from popular companies and institutions. This is particularly evident in three of STAND’s conflict areas: Burma, East Turkistan/Xinjiang, and Yemen. In Burma, the army commits mass atrocities against many ethnic groups like the Kachin and the Rohingya and profits immensely off of the gemstone industry. In East Turkistan, Uyghurs in concentration camps are often forced to work for companies like Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger. In Yemen, the majority of civilian casualties are caused by a Saudi-led coalition which buys most of its arms from the United States. Many universities and companies are invested in these arms sales.

Thanks for participating in the Spring 2021 campaign! You can continue to take action for conscious consumption using our resources.

Campaign Actions

• Participate in our Tweet Storm.
• Call Congress and Team USA.
• Sign this petition to revoke Beijing’s right to host the Olympics.
• Watch the recording of our Facebook Live with Simon Billenness of No Business with Genocide.
• Learn about our campaign goals, action items, policy asks, and more in the CCC Toolkit.
• Make sure you’re following STAND on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @STANDNow.

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Every Action Matters

We recognize that you may not have much purchasing power to be able to make a difference through boycotting companies. Have no fear! There are so many other ways you can be involved in this campaign and become a conscious consumer. Throughout the campaign, we encourage you to define conscious consumption and “ethical” for what works best for you. Ask yourself: what is most important to my morals? What can I feasibly do? Each of us individually must draw the line on what we can do and what we cannot. Also, this campaign is designed to ease people into the concept of conscious consumption, divestment, and company boycotts. This is not something that you can go from 0 to 100 or cut cold turkey. Like being environmentally aware and reducing plastic use, conscious consumption requires us to be cognizant of our consumerism daily and take actions little by little.