On November 28, Black Friday, activists demonstrated against Hewlett-Packard at three locations: Atwater Village (Costco/Best Buy), West LA (Best Buy), and Long Beach (Costco). About a dozen people turned out at each, reported an organizer. Reaction by passersby was mostly positive. The demonstrations lasted two hours.

Many readers are likely already aware of HP's involvement with Israel; its technology is also being used in the U.S. for government surveillance and ICE deportations. (More here: hpboycott.org)

In Atwater, demonstrators learned that HP had visited Best Buy the night before to warn them of the demonstration and show them the organizers' website. There was some antagonism with Costco initially. An employee came out and took pictures of us, and various activists complained about it on Twitter. Sometime later, Costco's management had two large pizzas and many bottles of water delivered to us. (Whether or not there was a connection between the Tweets and the food is a matter of speculation.)

As mentioned earlier, public reaction was generally favorable. Many were interested in receiving flyers. One participant alone handed out 50 of them (and several of us were distributing them).

In West LA, one person going to Best Buy said he was planning to buy an HP computer, but in light of this new information changed his mind.

Entrance to Costco and Best Buy in Atwater Village

error

error

error

Photo courtesy of HP Boycott.