Complexities of an oil boycott

The leaking oil well makes me very depressed; I've been disinclined to learn details of what's going on, I just assume that area of the world will be severely damaged for a few generations. It's painful to think about.

But, I'm up late websurfing while trying to nurse the kidlet to sleep, so here are a couple of articles explaining why trying to punish the company who messed up is no simple action.

New York Times: "Punishing BP Is Harder Than Boycotting Stations"

...BP owns only a handful of the 11,000 stations that bear its brand and is trying to sell the few still on its books. So those who wish to inflict the maximum amount of pain on the company are instead putting much of the hurt on the family businesses that actually own the stations.

Just how little does BP gain from its gas stations, besides whatever ancillary marketing benefit it gains from the signs? The gas in its pumps may not be extracted, refined or stored by the company and may just get a spritz of BP additives right before it ends up at the service station. All of this puts a mere handful of coins in the company’s pocket per fill-up.

And the gas that people buy when they fill up elsewhere? Fuel from independent gas stations, grocery chains and big-box wholesale clubs sometimes comes directly from refineries or wholesalers that BP owns outright. ...

AP: "Boycott Big Oil? Prepare to give up your lifestyle"

...Oil is everywhere. It's in carpeting, furniture, computers and clothing. It's in the most personal of products like toothpaste, shaving cream, lipstick and vitamin capsules. Petrochemicals are the glue of our modern lives and even in glue, too. ...