Do you think a consumer boycott of Exxon or Mobile brand gasoline will affect gas prices?

Question

Clipped from an email circulating: "Worth a try. Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. 
"By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon o f gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace not sellers. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. ... "

Arbitrage · Accepted Answer

This is just another urban legend floating.

Boycotting Exxon isn't going to work to bring down prices.  If everyone stopped buying from Exxon and used the other providers, then the other providers would run out of gas pretty quickly due to supply and demand chain effects.  What would happen is that they would buy their gas from Exxon and overall all prices would go up, not down.

Full mythbuster at Snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

To lower gas prices, you have to lower demand, which includes things like carpooling, public transportation, alternative sources of energy, and better milage vehicles.

keisha5938 · Answer

I don't think so.  I do think that consumers are tired of this and just put their hands up and surrender.  I feel that it is an injustice to all consumers that travel to work and other places and has no control because we need the gas for our vehicles.  It is such an injustice but one day we all will rise and the consumers will win.  

Shame on the war and the government.  For the record, I use BP.

? · Answer

keep in mind that the oil agency in question will greater effective than probably boost their expenditures to offset the lost business enterprise, this might inspire all and sundry else to boost their expenditures besides, so the belief has no advantage and could in ordinary terms effect in larger expenditures. ordinary economics...they have something we % and can boost the cost till we attain a factor that everybody stops procuring or strikes to an selection source of capability. besides OPEC is an oil group that controls the oil supply no longer in ordinary terms a single agency.

Trending News

Do you think a consumer boycott of Exxon or Mobile brand gasoline will affect gas prices?

3 Answers