The recent economic blackout allowed for society to stand against corporate greed. On Feburary 28th, the People’s Union USA called for a national boycott in the form of an economic blackout, urging people to not shop for 24 hours. Supporters of the blackout aimed to make a statement against big corporations, cuts to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, such as DEI laws.

This blackout was considered a grassroots movement, which takes a group of people or organization that use collective action for a political movement. The actions taken have shown little to no impact on big corporations; however, other organizations have urged for consumers to boycott Target for 40 days, which started on March 5, to protest their rollback on DEI initiatives. This boycott has yet to see dramatic impacts. Other efforts called on black consumers to refrain from spending entirely on Friday to illustrate black buying power and socioeconmic influence.

This blackout gained traction due to the prescence of social media. John Schwarz, a member of the People’s Union, assumed that the blackout would not gain traction and that a only a handful of his social media followers would participate. Instead, his post was shared more than 700,000 times on Instagram and had 8.5 million views. Even celebrities like Stephen King and Mark Ruffalo encouraged those to participate. Reporters wrote and aired TV pieces about the boycott, that propelled it even further.

If people must shop during these economic blackouts, they are urged by participants of the blackout to shop at small businesses or local shops. While the blackout seemed to have little to no effect on corporations, if the blackouts are continued for long periods of time, there could be greater impacts that fight against the big corporations in America.