Companies affiliated with Israel continue to face losses following a global boycott campaign in response to Israel’s ongoing onslaught in Gaza. 

Spearheaded by the non-violent, Palestinian-led movement, Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS), pro-Palestine supporters around the world, especially those in Muslim countries, have caused losses accumulating to millions of U.S. dollars for a number of international conglomerates that operate on stolen Palestinian land and/or donate to Israel, making them complicit in genocide. The following companies have experienced significant financial losses:

Seattle-based coffeehouse giant, Starbucks has been on the receiving end of the BDS campaign, following the popular coffechain’s fall out between Starbuck’s management and their union over a tweet in support of Palestine. According to TRT news, Starbucks recently fired its CEO Laxman Narasiman for falling sales due to the global boycott campaign, while incurring a plunge in its sales by 2% in North America and by 7% worldwide, resulting in a 23% decline in the company’s international profits.

The world’s largest fast-food chain, McDonald’s sales have also plunged significantly after photos were shared on social media of Israeli soldiers hoarding free McDonald’s meals, sparked fury across the globe. The fast-food giant’s revenue plummeted by 12% to just over $2billion in the second quarter of 2024, the first global sales decline for the company since 2020. Additionally, McDonalds has also announced that it will buy out all 225 of its restaurants in Israel.

The Pro-Palestine global boycott has also resulted in significant losses for the American century-old multinational beverage company Coca-Cola. Sales of the once all-time favorite soft drink company plummeted by 23% in Bangladesh alone. The factory in Pakistan, which makes cans for both coca-cola and its competitor Pepsi, reported a decline in sales by 11% in the first quarter of 2024.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have heavily invested in Muslim-majority countries in the last few decades. Despite the availability of local brands, most people preferred Coke and Pepsi products. This, however, has significantly changed in the past year as countries such as Egypt and Pakistan have seen their local brands soar in popularity. For example, the Egyptian brand V7 has tripled its exports of cola drinks in the region while Coke’s sales have dropped by double digits. Pakistan’s Krave Mart founder Kassim Shroff revealed that local brands like Cola Next and Pakola’s sales have grown significantly, at almost 12%, a stark contrast from 2.5% before the boycott.

“This event is unprecedented. The length of this conflict is unprecedented. The intensity is unprecedented,” Amarpal Sandhu, chief executive of Americana Restaurants, said.

A supermarket owner in Cairo, Hazem Tamini revealed that his sales of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Ariel, Persil, Cadbury, and Nestle products had plummeted by 50 percent, while stating that even the area’s affluent residents specify that they want an Egyptian brand instead of Nestle or [Coca-Cola-owned] Dasani.

Notably, the boycott has drastically affected the Israeli economy. Over 80% of startup businesses have suffered damage while 50% of them will only be able to finance their start-ups for the next 6 months. 45,000 companies have also shut down in Israel.

“I think there is definitely reason for concern for Israel,” Shamir-Borer of the Israel Democracy Institute told the Wall Street Journal last month. “Becoming a pariah state means that even if things don’t happen formally, less companies feel that they want to invest in Israel in the first place, less universities want to collaborate with Israeli institutions. Things just happen when you get this symbolic status.”

The BDS movement encourages people to boycott companies that are “strategic key players” such as HP, Chevron, Intel and Siemens. The movement believes that targeted boycotts may yield the best results since they affect the main supplies of oil and technological companies required for assembling and using weapons used by the Israeli military. This, in turn, also affects the Israeli economy.

Tech-giant, Intel, suspended the construction and expansion of a chip factory in Israel that amassed a cost of $25 billion. While the company did not link their decision to the ongoing Israeli onslaught in Gaza, the BDS movement has been actively working on a global campaign to boycott Intel which provides AI assistance for the Israeli army in their invasion on Gaza.

In a survey carried out by BDS on 15,000 people across 15 countries, one in three people actively boycott brands associated with Israel. 

With Israel’s genocide in Gaza killing at least a reported 45,000 people, mostly women and children, global outrage against the occupying entity has intensified and has led people throughout the world to participate in the BDS movement against Israeli-affiliated companies. They do this while simultaneously holding large-scale protests to call on their government to sever ties with Israel and call for an end to the world’s most documented genocide.