Weatherhead's Jonathan Ernest discusses the effectiveness of short-term boycotts

Can ‘Blackout the System,’ a Thanksgiving shopping boycott, impact economy?

cleveland.com​​​​​​: Jonathan Ernest, assistant professor of economics at Weatherhead School of Management, noted that short-term, broad boycotts such as “Blackout the System” rarely have lasting effects. “General boycotts are typically less effective,” he said, noting that most people simply delay purchases instead of canceling them, resulting in “temporal spending shifts rather than actual lost sales.”