The Shift From Deals to Declaration
Once, Black Friday represented an unashamed celebration of consumer choice and American enterprise. Tens of millions queued, clicked, and celebrated bargains.
Now, a slice of the progressive left has declared a weekend of protest during Black Friday, urging people to skip big-box stores altogether and shop only at local, independent businesses.
"We Ain't Buying It" is a coalition that asks Americans to shun Amazon, Target, and Home Depot from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
Why?
Because, according to them, those stores align with conservative politics that roll back DEI efforts and sideline local entrepreneurs.
The Historical Context
One of the oldest tools of protest in America has been boycotts, from the Townshend Acts of 1767 to Montgomery's bus boycott. Evolving from those events, we see a modern twist: rather than refusing all commerce, participants selectively refuse mega-retail chains while funneling money to smaller, local players, marking a shift from wholesale abstinence to targeted consumer activism.
NO SPENDING. NO WORK. NO SURRENDER.
The system isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed—for the wealthy.
The Mass Blackout is a nationwide economic action, coordinated across aligned organizations, calling Americans to:
- Stop online or in-store shopping (except for small businesses)
- Stop work
- Stop streaming, cancel subscriptions, no digital purchases
- Remove the regime
If you must spend: support small, local businesses only. Pay in cash.
We’re not targeting small businesses or communities—we’re targeting the corporate systems that profit from injustice, fuel authoritarianism, and crush worker power.
There's even a media kit available.
Organizers believe that putting economic pressure on key holiday weekends delivers more resonance than casual complaining. Black Friday is a great example: The day after Turkey Day accounts for a hefty share of annual retail profits, so even a slight shift in behavior matters.
The Strategy and the Spectacle
Looking at it from the outside, the boycott reads more like moral theater, with participants positioning themselves as standing up to corporate leviathans and measuring their shopping lists against ethical alignment.
It looks as though the strategy isn't fully thought through: The campaign asks consumers to avoid spending at specific retailers for five days, but lacks clear demand beyond symbolic rejection.
Without concrete accountability or negotiated change, the boycott risks becoming a simple gesture rather than an engine of change.
The Risks of Contradiction
This movement isn't without tension; on one hand, the left applauds local entrepreneurship while championing small farms, independent shops, and minority-owned businesses. On the other hand, it shuns supply chains and national firms that deliver affordability, innovation, and scale.
In effect, the movement may end up praising its values, but delivering selective disruption without systemic clarity.
It boils down to one question: Is the target corporate capitalism, or is it certain companies whose politics offend?
Both messages and the method fail without a firm answer.
What It Means for Retail and Community
The large retailers will feel vulnerable in principle, but it's unclear whether their bottom lines will shift significantly. Any modest sales dip might create the desired headlines, but volatility is expected.
Meanwhile, the local businesses that the boycott cheers on could benefit from a short-term influx, but lack the scale to restructure a commerce ecosystem.
If there's no follow-through on labor standards, supply transparency, or community reinvestment, the protest might thrill moral purists, yet leave foundational economics untouched.
The Personal and the National
The campaign encourages people to reflect on where they spend their money and the values that guide those choices. At a national level, it raises a more challenging question: whether consumer habits actually shift the balance of power within a massive retail landscape.
American frontier commerce keeps moving; While earlier generations took pride in buying plenty, many modern shoppers take pride in buying with a purpose. The boycott echoes the spirit of the John Wayne movie Hondo, where rugged individualism pairs with a sense of duty toward the land.
True stewards refuse to sit on the sidelines because they build, repair, and protect rather than retreat.
Final Thoughts
Supporting local shops and being mindful of what you spend are things people can respect, but they also see the friction that grows when that honest goal turns into a broad rejection of nearly every major retailer in the country.
If it leads to concrete improvements, the left's boycott of Black Friday might create meaningful change, such as higher wages, dependable community investment, and cleaner supply chains.
Efforts, such as these boycotts, that fail to produce such gains risk sliding into symbolic protest, with noise replacing progress and drama replacing genuine reform.
It appears like the left is screaming for credibility while taking their ball and going home.
