Last week a U.S. NGO, Corporate Ethics International (CEI), launched a tourism boycott of Alberta as a protest against oil sands development.
The campaign certainly got attention, particularly from the media and politicians who universally challenged its accuracy and its logic. Why try to harm tourism operators in Alberta who surely ENGOs would want on their side? One U.S. politician said it was like calling for a boycott of Chicago because Illinois has a lot of coal. And why focus on Alberta when the rest of Canada, Ontario and Quebec especially, also benefit hugely from employment and supplier relationships linked to oil sands?
It was not only professional commentators who objected to CEI’s arguments. Reportedly a flood of comments — many profane — and a swell of negative reaction to the campaign forced it to shut down the forum on its campaign website. CEI is reported as saying “[the campaign] generated an even broader negative response than we expected."
CEI’s campaign seems to have backfired, but it made us think – Do boycott campaigns like this one further constructive debate? Will people change their travel habits simply because of the claims of a fairly obscure environmental group against their own personal knowledge of the beauty and wonder of a famed wilderness location? And can boycotts change attitudes when consumers are often buying gasoline derived from oil sands when they fill up their car?
This has led some to question whether these boycott calls are really intended to change consumer behavior or are just fundraising or marketing campaigns for their sponsors. They are anyway a double-edged sword. For an informative read on the effectiveness of boycotts, read this article from The Washington Post.
Regardless of their motive and of how you feel about them, boycotts are part of our culture. But in the end, what matters to the public is knowing that companies are being responsible in the way they run their businesses, now and in the future. As long as it works hard on environmental performance, and strives to meet or exceed public expectations, the oil sands industry will ensure that it will continue to be an important part of our energy future.
