In the middle of a trade war with the United States, Canadians have started showing strong support for their country by changing their consumer habits. Shoppers have begun shunning all sorts of American products and rallying behind the “Buy Canadian” movement.

By snubbing American products and purchasing Canadian ones, shoppers are engaging in acts of “political consumerism.”

Political consumerism is the idea that people make purchasing decisions based on political reasons. There are two main forms of political consumerism: boycotting, which is avoiding the purchase of certain products and services for political reasons, and buycotting, which involves purchasing certain products and services due to political reasons.

For example, labour issues, animal rights, racial or sexual discrimination, the environment and religion are all political issues that may cause a person to change their purchasing habits. The reasons a person may participate in an act of political consumerism will also differ depending on the country they live in and their political ideology.

A review of 66 survey-based studies that a colleague and I conducted found that the people who participate in acts of political consumerism tend to have........

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