1973 meat boycott

Collective economic action in the US A national boycott of meat took place from 1 to 8 April 1973 in the United States to protest rapidly increasing meat prices.https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/30/archives/consumers-rally-for-meat-boycott-mobilization-on-midwest-farmers.html CONSUMERS RALLY FOR MEAT BOYCOTT The New York Times 30 March 1973 2018-09-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20181004185725/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/30/archives/consumers-rally-for-meat-boycott-mobilization-on-midwest-farmers.html 2018-10-04 live Lissner Will Background Meat prices began to rise in late 1972. The consumer price index published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics attributed this price increase to poor weather conditions, which increased the price for grain and animal feed, rising domestic demand, and unusually high export demand for pork due to the dollar devaluation in mid-February.The Consumer Price Index https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/cpi/1970s/cpi_031973.pdf U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics 22 September 2018 1 March 1973 https://web.archive.org/web/20170622001458/https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/cpi/1970s/cpi_031973.pdf 2017-06-22 live Meat prices had risen 5.4 percent in a month, poultry and fish 5 percent, all retail food prices 2.4 percent, and that all consumer prices had risen seven-tenths of one percent. Boycott The boycott rose out of small, local organizations of consumers across the country as prices for meat rose dramatically.Nader Ralph The Lessons of the Meat Boycott https://nader.org/1973/04/09/the-lessons-of-the-meat-boycott/ Nader.org 22 September 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180917014540/https://nader.org/1973/04/09/the-lessons-of-the-meat-boycott/ 2018-09-17 live Cowan Edward Nixon Sets Meat Price Ceilings at Both Wholesale and Retail; Asserts Costs 'Should Go Down' https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/30/archives/nixon-sets-meat-price-ceilings-at-both-wholesale-and-retail-asserts.html 22 September 2018 The New York Times March 30, 1973 https://web.archive.org/web/20181004185623/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/30/archives/nixon-sets-meat-price-ceilings-at-both-wholesale-and-retail-asserts.html 2018-10-04 live These groups were primarily female led, as women traditionally bought the groceries for their households, and these groups grew both from people that only joined around this issue and already existing women's and community groups.Lissner Will Consumers Rally for Meat Boycott https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/30/archives/consumers-rally-for-meat-boycott-mobilization-on-midwest-farmers.html 22 September 2018 The New York Times March 30, 1973 https://web.archive.org/web/20181004185725/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/30/archives/consumers-rally-for-meat-boycott-mobilization-on-midwest-farmers.html 2018-10-04 live The boycott included both abstention from buying and cooking meat as well as active protests.Friedman Monroe Consumer boycotts: effecting change through the marketplace and the media 1999 Psychology Press 978-0415924573 78 https://books.google.com/books?id=6Acfky9ltFYC&dq=1973+Meat+Boycott&pg=PA78 22 September 2018 The protest was observed by more women than men, as men continued to eat meat that was bought before the boycott took effect.Adams Carol J. The Sexual Politics of Meat 1990 The Continuum International Publishing Group 978-1-4411-7328-7 58 Twentieth Anniversary Addition Carol J. Adams#The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory Lasting effects According to some, the boycott was successful in lowering meat prices for a short period of time, although The New York Times reported that there was "no significant decline in meat prices".McFadden Robert D. Boycott of Meat Ends With a Call for New Protests https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/boycott-of-meat-ends-with-a-call-for-new-protests-beef-supply-down.html 22 September 2018 The New York Times April 8, 1973 That being said, in the Time magazine cover story for April 9, 1973, the boycott was called, "the most successful boycott by women since Lysistrata,"Inflation: Changing Farm Policy to Cut Food Prices http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903930,00.html 22 September 2018 Time Magazine April 9, 1973 https://web.archive.org/web/20140713182242/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903930,00.html 2014-07-13 live and the public pressure pushed President Nixon to enforce price ceilings on beef, pork and lamb. The leaders supported continued boycotts of meat, specifically by refusing to cook or eat meat on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ralph Nader wrote that consumers would become more aware of their ability to advocate for and control food policy. Others wrote that "housewife activism" and women's groups' power gained more recognition, and the boycott's primary lasting effect was as a "consciousness-raising experience". References Category:April 1973 in the United States Category:1973 protests Category:Meat Category:Consumer boycotts