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Netlore Archive: Latest version of familiar email chain letter urges Internet users in the U.S. to boycott gas stations on May 15, 2007 to 'put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry'

Description: Protest chain letter
Circulating since: April 2007 (this version)
Status: False / Ineffectual

Email example contributed by Donna M., 04/25/07:

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Subject: FW: Don't pump gas May 15th 2007

NO GAS...On May 15th 2007

Don't pump gas on may 15th

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and let's try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

If you agree (which I can't see why you wouldn't) resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, "Don't pump gas on May 15th"

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Comments: Wrong, wrong, wrong.

1. There was no nationwide "gas out" in 1997. There was one in 1999, but it didn't cause gas prices to drop 30 cents per gallon overnight. In fact, it didn't cause them to drop at all. Despite the popularity of the email campaign, the event itself attracted scant participation and was completely ineffectual.

2. There are over 205 million Internet users in the United States, far more than the 73 million claimed.

3. If, say, a hundred million drivers refused en masse to fill up their tanks on May 15, the total of what they didn't spend could amount to as much as $3 billion. However, it doesn't follow that such a boycott would actually decrease oil companies' revenues by that amount, given that the average sales of gasoline across the entire U.S. is under $1 billion per day in the first place.

4. Whether the total impact was a half-billion, 3 billion, or 10 billion dollars, the sales missed due to a one-day consumer boycott wouldn't hurt the oil companies one bit. Think about it. Every single American who doesn't buy gas on Tuesday is still going to have to fill up their tank on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, making up for Tuesday's losses. Sales for the whole week would be normal, or very close to it.

A meaningful boycott would entail participants actually consuming less fuel -- and doing so in a sustained, disciplined fashion over a defined period of time -- not just choosing to wait a day or two before filling up as usual.

'Gas War' Poll: Will you be boycotting your local gas station this May 15th?
1) Yes. 2) No. 3) I don't know.

Update: Gas Boycott Postmortem - The figures are in, and by all accounts the May 15, 2007 gas boycott fizzled. Service station operators across the U.S. reported normal or near-normal sales despite the wide circulation of an email calling for drivers to avoid the pumps in a one-day "gas out" protesting high fuel prices. Read more...

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Sources and further reading:

Do Gas Boycotts Really Work?
Slate.com, 1 May 2006

Would a Gasoline Boycott Lower Prices?
MSNBC.com

Internet-Fueled Gas Boycott Fizzles Around Bay Area
San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 1999

Last updated: 04/26/07