Conflict in Palestine: What should we do instead of boycotting?

Almost everyday we could see the social media such as Facebook and Twitter full with the posts of campaign to boycott the product that produced by the company that is Israel friendly. Famous brand and restaurant such as McDonald's , Starbucks  Sara Lee and Danone became the objects of target with the mission to reduce the revenue of those companies. This is not the first time that kind of campaign was declared by Palestinian activists. Every time there is an attack on Palestine, we could see the keyboard warriors also championing the issue. All Facebook profile pictures were changed in accordance with the campaign. Not forgetting the the pictures put on as cover photos. This campaign might last a few weeks after the war stop and then people forget and walk back into those restaurant or start using the products as usual.

In order to make the efforts to help the Palestinians fruitful,we must change our approach. Instead of boycotting,we can promote the campaign of buying the product that support the Palestinian cause. The campaign of boycotting might have effect on those companies,but it is doubtful to continue for a long period of time as it was built on emotions. Everything that was built on emotion will last only for several moments. The angry and sympathy will fade, but the demand for this products and foods will grow.

There is reason why this kind of boycott will not work perfectly. The demand for fast food has been increasing tremendously in recent years. The need for foods that are prepared in little amount of time with a good value is the main reason to choose this kind of foods.  With the increasing amount of work and rising in income, fast foods such as McDonald are affordable to the new generation of our community. People no longer has time to prepare or wait for a long cooked food and hence the fast foods such as McDonald is becoming a preference. With the increasing outlets and drive through service provided, surely McDonald is a perfect choice for people. That is why the campaign to boycott McDonald will never work perfectly. We might reduce their revenue for a period of time,but the revenue will always soars in the future.

The same thing happens with the product such as SaraLee,Danone,Nestle and many other globally famous brands. This is a product that has play an important part in our daily lives. Sometimes this kind of product is no longer a choice but becoming a necessary for our daily live. Lets take Nestle for example. The product of Nestle such as Milo,Nescafe, Breakfast cereal and also dairy product is available in almost every house . While reading this article,you might as well sipping a cup of their beverages. This products has mounted their usage in our daily lives. To simply stop using this product would be difficult or impossible for some people.

So what do we need to do instead of boycotting?

Boycotting this products is like holding our breath from taking the air. We could hold for seconds but at some moments we could not help ourselves from taking those air. It is simply because we need it. So the best thing to do is by promoting the alternatives. For example, we are in a car and holding our breath from taking the air condition produced air.We could change the air conditioner produced air that we used to inhale and replace it with natural air that we could get from the outside. We might not realize but this air is sometimes are much better that air conditioner air that we used to inhale.

Instead of boycotting the Israel friendly brands,we could promote the purchase of products that support Palestinian cause. This can be done by buying the local and alternatives products. For example by buying the products produced by FAMA or any other Malaysian brands. Oh wait,did i say buy from a Palestine friendly products? Yes,of course. But do we have any Malaysian products that publicly support and pledged to channel their profits to Palestine? NO! As far as i am concerned,there are no brands that do so. There are Palestinian Non Government Organization(NGO) such as AQSA SYARIF that produce chocolate,dates and merchandise where all the profits will be used to champion the Palestinian causes but the goods produced are not the alternative to the goods that we use daily. There is no alternative to those beverages such as Milo and Nescafe produced by that NGO. So here comes the responsibility of the our local brands to produce alternatives products to compete with the Israel friendly brands.

We do have our local company that produce that kind of products but they never declare their support to channel their profits to the Palestinian funds. Lets take example of Radix, the Muslims producer of households goods such as beverages and fast foods. Do they ever advertised that the will channel their profit to the Palestinian cause? NO! Just imagine that they pledge their support to the Palestinian,and promise to give a portion of their profits cake, they will not just do their corporate social responsibility but also will make people to choose their brand as an alternative. In the end, the keyboard warriors in Facebook will no longer promote the campaign to boycott the Israel but replacing it to promote the Palestinian friendly brand.

The good thing about this is,the fund will surely go to the Palestinians. The fund from our purchase. We indirectly donating the money while purchasing our daily needs. Hence,it will be  a win-win situation for all of us.The local company will get free advertising and increase in profit,we will get our daily products and while donating and Palestinians will get the donation from all of us. Here is my suggestion.

1) Encourage local entrepreneur to engage their products with Palestinian campaign
2) WE,the Keyboard Warriors help by promoting their products

In the end, we will champion the campaign to help the Palestine and benefit our community as a whole.