Are you shopping Amazon, Target, or Home Depot today? Read this first.
We’re joining a nationwide Cyber Monday boycott. Here’s why we’re skipping Amazon, Target, and Home Depot and what to do instead.
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They’re expecting over $13.3 billion today.
We can prevent that.
Cyber Monday 2024 broke records.
Americans spent more online in a single day than ever before in history at $13.3 billion, beating projections by $100 million. The projections for today December 1, 2025 are even bigger: $14.1 billion flowing into corporate coffers in just 24 hours. With much of the profit heading to three companies: Amazon, Target, Home Depot.
Three companies currently collaborating with an administration attacking our democracy.
History says that when we coordinate our wallets, we can move mountains.
TL;DR:
Cyber Monday 2024: $13.3 billion in sales, projected $14.1 billion for 2025
Amazon, Target, and Home Depot are actively collaborating with Trump’s administration
We’re boycotting all three companies today as part of the “We Ain’t Buying It” campaign
Historical precedent: Montgomery Bus Boycott cost the city $3,000 a day and lasted 381 days
Economic boycotts work when communities stay united
The Oligarchy Has a Price
Let’s talk about the $13.3 billion.
That’s how much Americans spent on Cyber Monday 2024 in a single day of online shopping that generated more revenue than 44 U.S. states collect in annual taxes. The biggest shopping day in human history, and 2025 is projected to break that record.
That money is buying influence. It’s buying access. It buys democracy.
Jeff Bezos, the person behind Amazon’s $447 billion in annual ecommerce sales, donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund in December 2024. So did his company. That’s $2 million total from the one who owns The Washington Post, the same newspaper he prevented from endorsing Kamala Harris who also blocked a presidential endorsement in the name of “neutrality” while simultaneously writing checks to Trump’s victory parties.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg donated another $1 million. OpenAI’s Sam Altman matched it. Apple’s Tim Cook joined the parade. Tech billionaires are kissing Trump’s ring, buying access to an administration that promises to leave them unregulated while they extract wealth from working families.
The cost of their compliance is being paid by our communities.
Who’s Paying and Who’s Profiting
Let’s break down exactly what these three companies are doing:
Amazon: Jeff Bezos donated $1 million personally, plus another $1 million from Amazon itself. The company streamed Trump’s inauguration on Prime Video. Bezos met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to “rebuild relationships” after Trump threatened Amazon with antitrust violations during his first term. Amazon holds a monopolistic 37.8% to 40.4% of the U.S. ecommerce market, nearly six times larger than its closest competitor, Walmart.
Amazon warehouse workers face dangerous conditions. The company has fought unionization efforts nationwide. CEO compensation has increased 1,094% since 1978, while typical worker wages have increased just 26%. That’s not a typo. CEOs got a 1,094% raise. Workers got 26%.
Target: The Minnesota-based retailer publicly abandoned its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in response to pressure from Trump’s administration. Programs that supported Black workers, LGBTQ+ communities, and minority outreach, gone. Target chose compliance over community. The company has over 400,000 team members and operates in all 50 states, but when Trump attacked DEI initiatives, Target folded immediately.
Home Depot: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been detaining and arresting workers at Home Depot parking lots, places where day laborers gather to find work. The company claims they “aren’t notified” and aren’t “involved”, but they’re allowing ICE to operate on their property. Laborers in our communities can’t safely look for work because Home Depot won’t protect them.
These are choices that harm people in real time.
Inequality
Numbers to know:
The average CEO at America’s largest companies now earns 281 times what their typical worker earns. At the 100 largest low-wage employers, that ratio jumps to 632-to-1. At Starbucks, CEO Brian Niccol made 6,666 times more than the median employee in 2024 $97.8 million versus $14,674.
Since 1978, CEO compensation has increased 1,094%. Worker pay increased 26%.
From 2019 to 2024, CEOs at low-wage companies saw their pay jump 34.7%.
And their workers? Just 16.3% less than the 22.6% cumulative inflation rate. These workers are losing ground while their CEOs get richer.
Meanwhile, these same companies spent $644 billion on stock buybacks between 2019 and 2024. That’s money that could have gone to worker wages, benefits, or hiring. Instead, it went to inflate stock prices and executive compensation.
This is the oligarchy. And it’s growing quickly.
They’ve Done This Before.
We’ve Fought Back Before.
Montgomery, Alabama, December 1955.
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus. She was arrested. Fined. But her community didn’t abandon her, they organized.
Within 24 hours, 35,000 flyers were distributed across Montgomery’s Black community announcing a bus boycott. The Montgomery Improvement Association formed quickly, electing a 26-year-old preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. as their president.
The boycott began on December 5, 1955. It was supposed to last one day.
Why it worked: African Americans made up 75% of Montgomery’s bus riders. When they stopped riding, the city’s bus system lost between 30,000 and 40,000 fares every single day. That’s $3,000 in daily revenue gone. The bus company lost a significant amount of money. The city became desperate.
Police harassed carpool drivers. Insurance companies canceled policies on vehicles. The city passed laws trying to ban the carpool system entirely. More than 100 boycott leaders were arrested, including King himself.
The boycott remained more than 90% effective.
One elderly woman, when offered a ride, said: “My soul has been tired for a long time. Now my feet are tired, and my soul is resting.”
They walked. They carpooled. They organized. And after 381 days, they won.
On December 20, 1956, after the Supreme Court’s decision striking down bus segregation was implemented in Montgomery, the buses were officially desegregated.
Economic pressure worked because the community stayed united.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott wasn’t just about buses. It was about power. It demonstrated that when ordinary people coordinate their economic decisions, they can force systems to change. The boycott cost the city money, but more importantly, it cost the segregationists their credibility. It showed the nation that change was not only necessary but inevitable.
National media covered the story. Churches across the country sent donations. The movement grew. And it set the template for every civil rights campaign that followed.
The lesson is simple: our dollars are our votes. And when we vote together, we win together.
What This Means for Cyber Monday
The “We Ain’t Buying It” campaign isn’t asking you to sacrifice. It’s asking you to recognize what we can do together.
Last Thanksgiving weekend on November 27 through December 1, 2024, over 195 million Americans went shopping. That five-day period accounted for 20% of all annual retail sales. Nearly $42 billion spent in just five days.
This year, we’re pushing for something different.
The 50501 Movement, along with many other organizations and groups, are coordinating an economic boycott of Amazon, Target, and Home Depot from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
We’re asking you to shop small. Shop local. Support Black-owned businesses, immigrant-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, the businesses that affirm our humanity instead of undermining it.
Corporate America need us more than we need them.
Corporate power depends on our compliance. The moment we stop complying, that power evaporates.
Bezos can donate a million dollars to Trump, but that million is a rounding error compared to the billions Amazon makes from everyday Americans. If even 5% of Cyber Monday shoppers choose not to spend with these three companies today, that’s around $700 million in lost revenue. If 10% boycott, it’s roughly $1.4 billion.
They can’t afford to ignore that.
Here’s What You Can Do Today
If you have 5 minutes:
Don’t shop at Amazon, Target, or Home Depot today. That’s it. One day. You can do this.
Tell three people why. Text, call, or message three friends and let them know about the boycott. Use #WeAintBuyingIt on social media.
If you have 30 minutes:
Find a local alternative. Use boycotthere.com to find local, Black-owned, immigrant-owned, or minority-owned businesses in your area.
Shop small instead. If you need something today, buy it from a small business. Spend those dollars in your community.
Share this post. Forward it to your network. The more people who participate, the stronger the message.
If you have an hour:
Cancel your Amazon Prime membership. You can always rejoin later, but hitting their subscription numbers sends a clear signal. (If you rely on Prime for essential deliveries, consider pausing purchases instead.)
Contact these companies directly. Let Amazon, Target, and Home Depot know why you’re not shopping with them. Be specific: “I’m boycotting because you donated to Trump’s inauguration” or “I’m boycotting because you abandoned DEI programs.”
For the committed: Track your spending for the next 30 days. Every time you’re about to buy something from Amazon, Target, or Home Depot, ask yourself: “Can I get this somewhere else?” You’ll be surprised how often the answer is yes. And you’ll be even more surprised by how much power you feel when you make that choice consciously.
Are you participating in the boycott? Tell us in the comments what you’re doing differently today.
We The People Have the Power
This isn’t easy for many of us.
Amazon is convenient.
Target has good deals.
Home Depot might be the only hardware store in your area.
These companies have spent billions building infrastructure designed to make you dependent on them.
But Montgomery wasn’t easy either.
Those boycotters walked miles to work every day for 381 days. They faced arrest, harassment, and violence. They did it because they understood that discomfort is the price of long-term change.
You don’t need permission to stand for what’s right. You don’t need everyone else to join you before you start. You just need to make the choice for yourself, and trust that others will see your example and join.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott started with one woman refusing to give up her seat. The “We Ain’t Buying It” campaign can start with you refusing to click “Buy Now.”
Cyber Monday will come and go. The oligarchy will count its billions. But every dollar you don’t spend with them today is a dollar they can’t use to buy more influence tomorrow.
This is what democracy looks like. Not just voting every four years, but voting with our wallets every single day. Choosing where our money goes. Choosing which businesses thrive and which ones face consequences for harming our communities.
The billionaires are betting we won’t organize. They’re betting we’ll choose convenience over conviction. They’re counting on us to forget about this by next week.
Thank You For Being In The Movement
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Today’s most important action: Don’t spend money at Amazon, Target, or Home Depot. Just for today.
I won’t be buying from those stores at all this season. I’ve avoided Target since they lost their moral compass. I’ve avoided Home Depot since 2016 election and I cancelled Amazon prime. I’m done with stores that support the felon and not democracy
Cancelled Amazon. About to cancel Spotify. Joined a farmer's food co-op. Use the NO THANKS app. Bought all presents from small shops.