Home Depot

Introduction

Environmentalist and animal welfare organizations have launched numerous boycotts. These boycotts are especially likely to be part of a broader strategy to change standard practices in entire markets rather than targeting the policies of a single supplier. Often, industry leaders are subjected to the first boycott in the hope that other members of the industry will follow suit in a domino effect. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) led a 9-year boycott of Mitsubishi, which ended in 1998 after the company agreed to stop using old growth timber and to use almost all nonwood-based paper by 2002.

Discussion

In 1997, Greenpeace, RAN, the National Resources Defense Council, Forest Ethics, and others formed the Coastal Rainforest Coalition (CRC). This group first targeted the Home Depot, as an industry leader in the home supply chain industry, asking the company to stop purchasing timber from ancient forests. In 1999, Home Depot agreed to a progressive wood-sourcing policy. After a successful campaign with Home Depot, CRC moved on to Lowe's, Menards, Wickes Lumber, and 84 Lumber, all of which agreed to make substantive changes. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has implemented a similar strategy. PETA launched a campaign against McDonald's in 2001 asking the company to allow announced and unannounced slaughterhouse audits of all its livestock suppliers, stop purchasing from suppliers who failed the audits, increase space for laying hens, and change feeding and catching standards. In September 2002, McDonald's agreed. PETA launched a similar campaign against Burger King, which agreed after 5 months of the boycott to make the requisite changes. PETA has since moved on to a boycott of KFC, in the hope that the fast food industry will follow the lead of companies like McDonald's and Burger King. It is interesting to note that in these examples, media exposure ...