Why Is Social Media Urging People Not to Buy Anything for 24 Hours Friday?

A group calling itself the People’s Union USA is calling for one-day economic blackout on Feb. 28.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won “Headline Writer of the Year”​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism. You may have seen messages on social media urging people not to buy anything at all on Friday, Feb. 28, as part of a protest. This isn’t just your friends getting fed up with prices and corporations; it’s an actual organized movement. Consumers are being urged not to spend any money, online or otherwise, for 24 hours, the entirety of Feb. 28.

Boycott organizer John Schwarz told USA Today this week that he feels people are upset with corporate greed. He spoke more at length about the matter in a Feb. 18 Instagram video.

“For our entire lives, they have told us we have no choice … that this is just how things are, we have to accept these insane prices, the corporate greed, the billionaire tax breaks, all while we struggle just to get by,” Schwarz said in the video. “February 28, the 24-hour economic blackout: no Amazon, no Walmart, no fast food, no gas, not a single unnecessary dollar spent.”

Schwarz started an organization called The People’s Union USA, which has expanded the protest to include boycotts of specific companies and on certain dates. It includes a boycott of Amazon on March 7-14, Nestle on March 21-28, Walmart on April 7-14 and a second one-day economic blackout on April 18.

The People’s Union USA presents itself as politically nonaligned. Its website states, “We are not Democrat, Republican, Independent, or any other party. We transcend political labels. We fight for fairness, economic justice, and real systemic change, something neither party has prioritized.”

Schwarz didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Best-selling author Stephen King posted about the boycott on BlueSky, tying it to President Donald Trump, 

“Voted for Trump, now have buyer’s remorse?” King wrote. “The Trump philosophy seems to be his version of FAFO [f— around and find out]. Don’t buy anything on the 28th unless you absolutely have to.”

King’s not the only one to draw a connection between the boycott and the president. But the People’s Union USA website FAQ says the group is not against Trump, Elon Musk, or others: “This movement is not about one person. It is about the system as a whole. Both political parties, both past and current leaders.”

Actress Bette Midler also posted support for the boycott on BlueSky.

“Freeze your spending on Feb 28th…. Don’t shop!” Midler wrote. “And if you have to, please turn to a local small business!”

Can such protests do anything?I spoke with Zachary Crockett, the host of The Economics of Everyday Things podcast, who noted that collective action can lead to change, especially when it puts pressure on economic interests.

But can a 24-hour protest really make a difference?

“Historically, a boycott has been most effective when its actions and demands are clearly defined, and when participation is unified and sustained,” Crockett says. In addition to being sustained, he says, it helps for a boycott to strategically target key points in a corporation’s supply chain or sales channels.

Crockett notes that not shopping for a day could hurt the protesters more than the corporations and that boycotts become less effective as wealth becomes more concentrated. In the US, he says, a small percentage of individuals own “an astounding share of America’s wealth and assets,” and those people can better absorb economic pain. 

“Boycotts come at a cost to its participants, too,” he says, “and consumers generally have less runway than corporations do when it comes to making sustained economic sacrifices.”

Crockett says that for him, most days are already no-shopping days.

“I’m not a fan of spending money in general,” he said. “I’m pretty frugal, probably to a fault, regardless of what’s going on in the economy or political landscape. So, for me, every day is kind of an economic blackout.”

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