Overview

February 28th, 2025 Economic Boycott refers to a social media campaign that encouraged American citizens to boycott the U.S. economy on the last date of February 2025 in an attempt to protest the new Presidential administration. The boycott was supposedly started by a man named John Schwarz, who created the group "The People's Union" and pitched the boycott in early February 2025. The message began to gain traction on Instagram closer to February 28th. However, the boycott attempt drew criticism from internet leftists and other users, especially on Twitter, who argued that a one-day boycott with no clear demands and a planned ending puts no pressure on the government or the companies being boycotted. Furthermore, a New York Times exposé about John Schwarz revealed him to be a registered sex offender. Conservative internet users and others mocked the "failed" boycott in early March 2025, while some internet users joked that the boycott worked after seeing the U.S. economy falter due to tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump.

Background

On February 4th, 2025, John Schwarz, Instagram^[1] user @theonecalledjai, posted a video calling for a one-day economic boycott on February 28th, 2025, urging people to avoid shopping from large national retailers like Amazon and Walmart and instead stay home or only shop from small businesses if they have to. The video gathered over 400,000 likes in a month.

On February 7th, and February 10th, 2025, several internet users reposted an infographic sharing the details of the proposed "economic blackout" in writing, including X^[3] user and former Tennesse Senator Heidi Campbell and the Instagram^[2] page @junecarryl.

Developments

On February 24th, 2025, Instagram^[4] user @martharich63 uploaded a poster for the February 28th boycott alongside a caption that read, "I don’t know about you, but I want diversity, equity and inclusion everywhere. And I’m not down with a weirdo, neo-nazi billionaire getting all up in our business and illegally firing people who are out there HELPING! We have power together. Without us they have nothing. This is just the beginning of flexing that power! No more corporate BS. Tell your friends! PS I block dumbasses and buzz kills." The post gathered over 110,000 likes in a week.

The image was reposted by Instagram^[5] user @lsarsour on February 25th, gathering over 60,000 likes in six days.

Also on February 25th, 2025, Redditor^[12] /u/ModernLifelsRubbish posted a graphic to the subreddit /r/Anticonsumption encouraging people to boycott various companies including Tesla, Meta and Microsoft starting on February 28th, gathering over 30,000 upvotes in a week.

On February 28th, the New York Times^[11] then released an article about how John Schwarz of the "People's Union" was a registered sex offender and had no actual experience with union organizing. The article also detailed how Schwarz raised over $100,000 in GoFundMe money through this campaign.^[13]

Online Reactions

The news of the boycott, as well as the poster, began making the rounds on X / Twitter in late February 2025, largely among leftist Twitter / X users who criticized the idea of a "one-day boycott" and the idea of buying from small businesses instead of large retailers like Walmart and Amazon.

On February 26th, X^[6] user @narrenhut tweeted, "They’re planning a one-day boycott of the economy over on Instagram," gathering over 30,000 likes in five days.

On February 27th, 2025, X^[7] user @cruddydre_ posted a GIF of streamer IShowSpeed alongside text that read, "A boycott with an end date and no actual demands," gathering nearly 200,000 likes in five days.

Also on February 27th, X^[8] user @charybdeez posted a meme criticizing the notion of buying from small businesses during an economic boycott, writing, "Me trying to explode his head with my proletarian rage." The post gathered over 22,000 likes in five days.

On March 1st, 2025, X^[9] user @tonyhawktruther posted a tweet jokingly saying, "That first guilt-free Doordash order after a successful boycott hits different af!" and gathering over 30,000 likes in three days.

The U.S. stock market plunged on March 3rd, 2025, prompting some internet users to joke that the one-day boycott did in fact work. X^[10] user @boss_on_here made one such post on March 4th, gathering over 4,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References