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Do U.S. consumers boycott products in response to international conflict? Two professors at the University of Virginia say that in the case of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the answer is "yes." Remember "freedom fries?" A brief refresher: As the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush was gearing up to wipe out what it called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction," tensions were rising in the U.N. Security Council. France was deeply opposed to an attack and threatened to use its veto power to stop the action.
In the U.S., sentiment toward Paris plummeted, particularly among conservative Americans. Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly announced on the air he was boycotting French products and Capitol Hill cafeterias famously renamed French fries as "freedom fries," in an edible admonishment of the French government.
So talk of boycotts was in the air. But, as noted in a forthcoming paper in the journal Review of Economics and Statistics, measuring their economic impact has been a slippery affair.
"Most studies infer boycott behavior from indirect measures, such as bilateral trade patterns, abnormal stock market returns or consumer surveys, which are typically inconsistent with actual behavior," write associate professor of politics Sonal Pandya and business professor Rajkumar Venkatesan in their study, "French Roast: Consumer Response to International Conflict; Evidence from Supermarket Scanner Data."
It occurred to Pandya that supermarket scanners might offer some firm data on Americans' buying habits, so she and Venkatesan decided to dig deeper, studying weekly sales in 1,110 U.S. supermarkets in 50 regions across the country. For every week in 2003 they compared each store's sales of French-sounding brands to that same week in 2002. "Consumers' often use supermarket brands as an expression of their identity to others and also themselves," Venkatesan said.
[Paper]: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00526#.VUEShvBOKSp
[Source]: https://news.virginia.edu/content/study-tracks-us-boycott-french-sounding-products-during-2003-iraq-war
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Saturday May 02 2015, @07:07AM
"Hussein" is in fact the name of the grandson of the prophet Mohammad, which you would know if you were not a complete and total ignoramus. He is the founder of the Shia branch of Islam, another fact you did not know. May I specualate, given you extreme intellect on matter is international politics, that you can tell us what the sum of the interior angles of an isoceles triangle is? My god, you are dumb. You are so stupid that if it were not for respect for the freedom of speech as deliniated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I would think that someone should shut you up. But here is the rub, one I do not expect you to understand, and it is the principle of free speech, if you say stupid things, no one will believe you and it only makes you look stupid. So, obvious solution. Stop saying stupid things. *(I have no hope of this advice taking, so until then, you will be mercilessly modded down, not because people here disagree with you, but because you are stupid. As a wise man once said: "you are not even wrong". )
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @07:11AM
"Hussein" is in fact the name of the grandson of the prophet Mohammad, which you would know if you were not a complete and total ignoramus. He is the founder of the Shia branch of Islam, another fact you did not know.
I know many irrelevant facts that you likely have no chance of knowing. So what? It's meaningless.
May I specualate, given you extreme intellect on matter is international politics, that you can tell us what the sum of the interior angles of an isoceles triangle is?
You can speculate all you want about the person you're replying to, but you will look illogical for speculating randomly.
I sincerely hope you're not one of those rote memorization 'geniuses' that think that because they've memorized random knowledge about some subjective, that they are intelligent and/or truly understand why and how it all works. Those things are unrelated.
My god, you are dumb.
Why even ask a question if you're not interested in the answer?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @07:18AM
I do not like you. I do not like what you are saying. I do not like your hypocritical abuse of logic. I hope you are modded troll.
I sincerely hope you're not one of those rote memorization 'geniuses' that think that because they've memorized random knowledge about some subjective, that they are intelligent and/or truly understand why and how it all works. Those things are unrelated.
My only consolation is the certainty of which your hope has been and will continue to be dashed against the rocks of Samos.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday May 02 2015, @08:01AM
My only consolation is the certainty of which your hope has been and will continue to be dashed against the rocks of Samos.
Funny you should mention this. The first funny thing is that you know I am from Samos, and that there are less than inviting beaches there. But I have to point out, that although my teacher, Pythgoras, may have attained more fame by moving the land of the Latins, ultimately he was wrong about most things. The Theorem, yes, we have to give him that. But have you not heard of recent detections of exoplanets, orbiting distant stars? Now that is what I was talking about. Now you are welcome to question my accuracy as regards the stupidity of the American people, and I definitely look forward to any evidence to the contrary, but your assaults as an Anonymous Coward (emphasis on the second word) fail to hit the mark. Please try harder. And, I do like you. You have a pretty mouth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @03:05PM
Wait, so are you Greek or Turkish?
Because if you're Greek you should probably go get a job you lazy bum.
Because if you're Turkish you should probably go get a sense of humor you humorless cod.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday May 02 2015, @07:38AM
Because we are coming for you, idiot. We are going to tax you. We are going to force you to have health insurance! And we are going to force you to know the capital of Assyria, just in case it ever become relevant. Idiots are a drag on the well-being of a society. Just look at what they have done to America, and England! (Wait, why do all the really stupid countries speak either German or a dialect of German? Hmmm. )
I am not speculating randomly, I am responding the the irrationality of idiots who post here on Soylent News with no knowledge of what they speak! This shall not stand? We will have no idiots here! (Well, except, evidently, for Ethanol_Fueled.) So there it is. In objecting to my post you either are and idiot, or a sympathizer of idiots? Which is it? I am actually truly interested in you answer! Who knows? You may just be a shill instead of a total and complete ignoramous!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @07:52AM
Because we are coming for you, idiot. We are going to tax you. We are going to force you to have health insurance!
What?
I am not speculating randomly
But you did. I have no idea why you'd bring up some nonsense about triangles in response to that person's comment.
In objecting to my post you either are and idiot, or a sympathizer of idiots? Which is it?
Neither, because that's a false dichotomy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @08:10AM
Tax you can force, health insurance you cannot. Not without a constitutional amendment, which was written to permit taxes (the 16th amendment). Some stubborn people still do not have health insurance, and they are not even required to have it. They simply forfeit a tax deduction which they would receive by having health insurance.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday May 02 2015, @09:01AM
Tax you can force, health insurance you cannot.
Oh, yes we can. Bend over! We will cover your medical costs, because we are your people, and there is nothing you can do about it. The least you could do is say "thank you" you ungrateful wretch!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @10:16AM
Cover the costs? WHAT costs? People go the emergency room and demand medical care and then leave without paying. It's the American way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @02:42PM
Its the "American way" because they have no choice except to do that (well, or die, but that's not really an option). America has become so set on fucking over the poor that even debtors prisons have been brought back, more than a century after being abolished.