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From sex bans to banished brews – the most effective boycotts ever

Shopper stopper … International Buy Nothing Day
Shop til you stop … International Buy Nothing Day. Photograph: Yun Suk-Bong/Reuters

It has been a good week for the fine tradition of boycotting after the Bank of England announced it would launch a public consultation into future use of animal fat in its banknotes following widespread opposition to its new £5 notes. Vegetarian cafes and Hindu temples are refusing the tallow-containing currency – proving that direct action remains a powerful tool for change. As boycotts go, though, turning away cold, hard cash was certainly an unusual strategy. Yet when it comes to blackballing, it seems the more unconventional, the more impressive the results, as this unlikely lot show:

School

Most of us probably boycotted school at some point during our youth. But for Wei Chen and 50 other students at South Philadelphia High, Pennsylvania, there were better reasons than the traditional “can’t be arsed”. After years of racist attacks against Asian pupils there, the kids held a stay-away for eight days in December 2009. Amid ensuing publicity, they accused the school of indifference to harassment, overlooking student violence and blaming victims for provocation. The upshot? A federal investigation, a new principal and, by 2011, assault numbers halved.

Sex

After almost two decades of bitter civil war in Sudan, the country’s women took matters into their own hands in 2002. Led by a university professor, Samira Ahmed, a campaign encouraged wives to cease conjugal relations with husbands until the conflict ended. “Sudan women are subtle,” Ahmed said. “We are powerful especially behind the scenes.” Perhaps she was right: key peace talks took place less than a year later, and a full peace treaty was signed in 2005.

Shopping

Promoted by activist group Adbusters, Buy Nothing Day encourages global shoppers to pause the pre-Christmas madness and have 24 hours of … well, buying nothing. Given that consumerism remains as rampant as ever, the effect seems to have been limited but it has given birth to the “whirl-mart”, a US flashmob craze where activists turn up at supermarkets, take a trolley and conga their way down the aisles before, of course, sticking it all on YouTube.

Cups of tea

When an entire society abandons a good brew, serious happenings are afoot. So it proved in perhaps the most famous boycott of all when, in the 1770s, colonial Americans – then still part of the British empire – refused the national drink as a symbol of their desire for greater autonomy. Long story short: war of independence, United States born, Starbucks takes over the world.

Canada

Not all boycotts work, though. Just ask Morrissey. In 2006, everyone’s favourite vegetarian blackballed the entire country of Canada because of its seal hunting industry. “I fully realise the absence of any Morrissey concerts is unlikely to bring the economy to its knees,” the former Smiths singer said. “But it is our small protest against this horrific slaughter.” He was right on one count. In the face of this indie assault, Canada’s economy remained surprisingly buoyant.