Campaign group launches Amazon Christmas boycott

Amazon Anonymous has raised £7,000 for a campaign urging people not to shop with Amazon this Christmas.

The campaign group is asking people to sign up to its Amazon Free Challenge, where customers boycott shopping with Amazon from the 1st to the 25th of December to show the retailer that: “if they don’t pay their workers or pay their fair share of tax, we won’t pay them”.

The group said instead it would help shoppers find more ethical alternatives to buy their Christmas presents from.

“Amazon claims to be the world’s most ‘customer-centric’ company, but tens of thousands of us disagree," the group said. "Amazon can and should be a better company by treating their workers, society and other businesses fairly. So let’s use our consumer power against them and support shops more deserving of our cash this Christmas.”

It added: "We know going cold turkey is hard – but we’ll provide you with support to help you shop somewhere better. All you have to do for now is add your name."

An email from the group last week asked for supporters to pledge money to keep the campaign going, which has already raised £7,000. “So far, the Amazon Anonymous campaign has been coordinated by a small group of volunteers, working in our spare time and paying any costs out of our own pockets," the email said. "But now we want to step up the campaign for Christmas and for that we are asking if you can chip in with a bit of cash to help make them a reality.”

It is asking people to donate £3-5, which it says will go towards paying to keep the website online, buying supplies for stunts and emailing “tens of thousands of people so we can take action together”. The group also said it wants to “create some resources to expose Amazon's abuses in a public way”.

Amazon Anonymous was founded by activist Emily Kenway, who began a petition on Change.org last December demanding that the company pay its workers the Living Wage. The petition was signed by more than 55,000 people. Kenway led a group of protestors who handed the petition into Amazon's offices in Holborn in February this year.

The campaign group also orchestrated a protest stunt against Amazon in June, when it listed a 'book' called “Living Wages for Amazon Workers!” on Amazon.co.uk.

Amazon Anonymous also organised a social media protest following the online retailer’s sponsorship of the latest series of ITV’s “Downton Abbey” in September.