Exxon / Mobil Gas Boycott (2006 - 2008)
Netlore Archive: Current variant of a chain letter campaign urging consumers to boycott gasoline from Exxon Mobil due to skyrocketing gas prices.
Description: Email protest / Chain letter
Circulating since: March 2006 (this version)
Status: Ineffectual
Example:
Email text contributed by William B., April 7, 2006:
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Subject: A different approach to tackle the Gas Prices This is worth the read: This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace.....not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people. I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 =3D 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3D 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it.....THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am, so trust me on this one.) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you? Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. |
Analysis: If this invitation to participate in a "Gas War" against Exxon Mobil seems familiar, that's because one version or another has been in constant circulation since 1999. Regrettably, this so-called "different approach" to dealing with rising gasoline prices is no more likely to succeed this year than it was in 2004, 2003, 2002, or any other year the message has made the rounds.
Economists say it's unlikely that any form of consumer boycott could have an appreciable effect on gas prices nationally. Furthermore, it is hard to conceive of a less effective way to "organize" such a boycott than passing around an anonymous, randomly distributed chain letter like the one above. Past attempts have shown little or no results.
"It's hard for a call to boycott to work," Monroe Freeman, author of a book on consumer boycotts, told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2003 when a previous version of this message was spreading via email. "These often are 'Johnny One-Note' efforts which don't have the money, the organization and the sustainability to succeed."
Unsurprisingly, a representative of Exxon Mobil echoed Freeman's analysis, characterizing the effort as unrealistic. "Unless total demand is reduced for a particular market area, as opposed to shifting purchases to other companies' stations," the spokesperson told the Union-Tribune, "retail prices are unlikely to decrease - unless, of course, there is an increase in supply to that market area." In the past, major oil companies have consistently denied that consumer boycott attempts had any effect on national sales. Individual service station operators say their pocketbooks are hurt no less than consumers' by surging gas prices.
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Sources and further reading:
Driven Crazy by Gas Prices
Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 April 2006Do Gas Boycotts Make a Difference?
KVEW-TV News, 24 April 2006Summer Is Approaching - And Gas Prices Are Already Rising
Associated Press, 12 April 2006Feds Say Gasoline Prices Won't Fall Until Autumn
Sacramento Business Journal, 10 April 2006U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices
Weekly updates from the U.S. Dept. of EnergyA Primer on Gasoline Prices
Fact sheet from the U.S. Dept. of EnergyInternet-Fueled Gas Boycott Fizzles Around Bay Area
San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 1999
Last updated: 03/14/08

