Economic Blackout – Where to Spend Black Dollars Instead

Many Black consumers are done waiting for big corporations to honor their diversity promises. As major retailers roll back DEI initiatives, Black shoppers are organizing boycotts—like the “Economic Blackout”—and shifting their dollars to Black-owned businesses and companies that stay committed to equity. The message is simple: if you don’t value us, you don’t get our money.

In early 2025, retailers such as Target scaled back DEI pledges they made in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, sparking anger and feelings of betrayal among Black shoppers who had trusted those promises. Faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and grassroots organizers responded by urging consumers to boycott certain chains and redirect spending to local Black-owned businesses and supportive retailers.

If you’re participating—or want to—here’s how to make your “Economic Blackout” not just symbolic, but strategic.

Step 1: Decide What You’re Moving

Look at where you currently spend money each week: groceries, home goods, beauty, coffee, takeout, clothing, tech accessories. Even shifting 20–30 percent of that spending to Black-owned businesses can send a powerful signal and create immediate revenue gains for those businesses.

Step 2: Use Black Pages International as Your Map

Black Pages International exists precisely for this moment: to make it easy to find Black-owned alternatives for everyday spending. Instead of wandering aisles feeling frustrated, you can search the directory by city to find Black-owned grocery, beauty, apparel, and home brands, browse categories such as restaurants, professional services, online shops, and tech, and discover businesses that are often hidden on mainstream platforms or buried in algorithms. If “we are the economy,” as organizers say, then Black Pages International is the directory that helps you re-route the economy on purpose.

Step 3: Turn Boycotts into Buy-Cotts

Advocates are also pushing the idea of “buy-cotts”—intentionally rewarding companies that maintain DEI commitments and support Black communities. When you discover brands, whether Black-owned or ally-owned, that act in good faith, add them to your regular shopping rotation and share them within your networks.

Black Pages International can host city-based and industry-based Buy Black lists, making it easier to see where your dollars have the most impact. That could mean shifting haircare and skincare purchases to Black-owned brands in the directory, moving business spending such as catering, printing, marketing, and software to Black-owned vendors, or directing seasonal and holiday shopping to brands featured in Buy Black 365 campaigns.

Step 4: Track and Share the Impact

Use your platforms to show where your money goes now. Tag the businesses you find through Black Pages International, share your experiences, and encourage others to set their own Blackout or Buy Black challenges. The more we normalize using directories like Black Pages International, the less dependent we become on corporations that treat DEI as optional.

Boycotts alone won’t fix everything, but where we spend daily is a powerful lever. If corporations can calculate the cost of losing us, we can calculate the gain of fully supporting us. Start with your next purchase—and start with Black Pages International.