Home > Videos | π¨βπ«ππ» Scott Galloway
π°π«π»π Scott Galloway Is Calling for a Big Tech Boycott - Hereβs Why | Amanpour and Company
π€ AI Summary
- β Execute a month long national economic strike by cancelling tech subscriptions to attack the market which is the only thing the president responds to [00:40].
- π― Target ten companies responsible for forty percent of the S&P because they are especially susceptible to slowdowns in subscription revenue [01:49].
- π Impact market capitalization by cancelling services like Chat GPT which has a much higher impact per dollar than traditional grocery shopping [02:09].
- ποΈ Identify Ground Zero companies like Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta that provide infrastructure or political cover for authoritarian policies [04:00].
- π’ Pressure Blast Zone companies such as AT&T and Hilton that directly enable ICE efforts through their business operations [04:10].
- π οΈ Utilize the weapon hiding in plain sight which is nonparticipation in a capitalist society to send a radical message to corporate leaders [04:53].
- βοΈ Achieve death by a thousand cuts by aggregating hundreds of thousands of individual unsubscribes to erase billions in market value [06:50].
- π Remind CEOs that history judges captains of industry who ignore the slow burn towards fascism in exchange for crushing unions or getting rich [09:15].
- βοΈ Demand an end to the term stakeholders if firms refuse to protect the rule of law, the constitution, and basic human rights [10:03].
- π Learn from the Montgomery bus boycott that successful economic strikes must be sustained over a long period to force institutional change [11:53].
- π¨ Break up tech monopolies to restore consumer choice because consolidation currently prevents people from easily exiting complicit platforms [14:31].
- π½ Reject the idolatry of billionaires and reinvest in the principles of democracy and respect for immigrants to make America America again [16:03].
π€ Evaluation
- βοΈ While Galloway argues that economic boycotts are the most potent weapon against the current administration, the Harvard Business Review publication titled The Strategic Power of Saying No notes that most boycotts fail to significantly impact sales.
- π However, Galloway focuses on market capitalization and subscription metrics rather than just top line revenue, a distinction explored in the Journal of Marketing research on How Boycotts Affect Stock Prices which suggests that media visibility often damages share prices more than the actual loss of customers.
- πΊοΈ To gain a better understanding, one should explore the history of divestment campaigns during South African Apartheid to see how long term capital flight compares to short term consumer strikes.
β Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
π±οΈ Q: How can a single person unsubscribing from a tech service actually impact a trillion dollar company?
π±οΈ A: The impact is magnified because tech valuations are based on growth metrics and subscription multiples so a single cancellation can remove significantly more from the market capitalization than the face value of the monthly fee.
π‘οΈ Q: Why are large tech companies referred to as Ground Zero in this boycott movement?
π‘οΈ A: These companies are considered Ground Zero because they represent the jugular of American authoritarianism by providing the essential digital infrastructure and political legitimacy that enables fascist administration policies.
π Q: What is the difference between Ground Zero and Blast Zone companies in the campaign?
π A: Ground Zero companies are the massive tech platforms that the president is obsessed with while Blast Zone companies are smaller firms like hotels or telecom providers that directly aid ICE efforts.
π Book Recommendations
βοΈ Similar
- π Postwar by Tony Judt examines the reconstruction of European societies and the political consequences of economic consolidation.
- ποΈβπ¨οΈπ°βοΈπ€ The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff details how big tech platforms have consolidated power to control human behavior and markets.
π Contrasting
- π The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom argues that great captains of industry drove American progress through market competition rather than just political favor.
- π The Shareholder Value Myth by Lynn Stout challenges the idea that corporations must prioritize shareholders above all other social and legal obligations.
π¨ Creatively Related
- π€π§ Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher advocates for localized economics and warns against the dehumanizing effects of massive industrial concentration.
- π The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs explores how organic community action and resistance can preserve the integrity of local neighborhoods against institutional overreach.