RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Friday, Feb. 28 marked a nationwide, 24-hour ‘economic blackout’, with organizers urging Americans to refrain from spending money.
“My main reason for participating in this is to get the point across that we still have power in numbers,” said Richmonder and boycott participant MJ Barlow. “When many people make choices about their purchasing, it’ll send a message about the policies that we do not support or that we do support.”
This movement began on social media. It particularly takes aim at larger corporations, like Walmart, Target and McDonald’s — all of which have rolled back initiatives surrounding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to eliminate federal DEI programs
“There’s three different kinds of impacts,” said Stephen Day, an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VDU). “There’s the financial impact on a company, and then there’s the effect on awareness, and then there’s the goals of the boycott.”
But economically, how big will could this boycott’s effects really be?
“I think the biggest impact will be the awareness — what people are saying online,” Day said. “But I think the effect on [corporations’] actual sales tends to be sort of muted.”
The movement asks that people who have to spend money during the blackout use cash and shop at local or minority-owned businesses.
“I don’t think that one day of a blackout is going to make a huge difference to big corporations,” Day said. “But I think today is a day to start making those changes and [start] supporting companies that are not removing their DEI programs.”
Philly Vegan is a Black-owned business in Downtown Richmond. Owner Samuel Veney said he noticed an increase in business today.
“One guy came by, he said he just want[ed] to support all of the businesses that are Black-owned on whole street,” Veney said. “So he was going up and now Wall Street donated $100 to everybody.”
Day said that, if you want to make a change, the best thing you can do is to continue boycotting major corporations past this 24-hour movement.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
