Following a call on social media, people are planning to boycott gas from July 3-5 in an effort to lower gas prices.
Driving the news: TikTok user aidans_98_prelude recently posted a video telling people to not fill up their cars with gas over the 4th of July weekend, with the caption, “if everyone contributes we will all be better off,” per IB Times.
- The video went viral, racking up over 13 million views and nearly 40,000 comments.
What they’re saying: In the video, Aidan begins with a call to action, saying, “Do not buy gas for your car July 3rd through 5th.”
- Aidan commented on his video explaining why he believes the boycott needs to happen, saying, “It’s not difficult to understand gas companies rely on daily income. This kind of thing has worked before. We can do it again.”
- Twitter users like emuhdigh are joining in as well, saying, “The more people that do the better chance we have at lowering the price.”
- Others are doubtful a boycott would do much. One TikTok user pointed out that many people travel during Independence Day weekend, saying, “This is not gonna work, this is the biggest travel event of the summer ... not to mention boats for lakes.”
- Another user argued that everyone would have to get gas at some point after the boycott, saying, “So gas price goes down. But it’ll shoot even higher come July 6th when demand all hits at once. Stations can’t hold enough for all that at once.”
Would a boycott actually lower gas prices? Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, says a boycott would not affect gas prices whatsoever, WRAL reported.
- “It’s not going to work because people are shifting demand,” explained De Haan, per WRAL. “People filling up on Wednesday not Thursday or on Tuesday instead of Sunday isn’t going to do anything.”
- Joseph Von Nessen, University of South Carolina research economist, says the boycott would have to go on for more than three days to cause any change. “Prices do go down in response to a decline in consumption but only if the decline in consumption is for a decline for a good period of time,” Von Nessen said, according to WCNC.
The bottom line: Not filling your car up with gas may influence prices if done for a long time. However, people still continue to buy gas each day as they travel to work, school and other activities.
Update: People are still planning to boycott gas this weekend, despite expert opinion discouraging the strike. De Haan told Your Erie the only way it would be effective whatsoever is if consumers stop driving altogether from July 3 to July 5, which is highly unlikely considering forty-two million Americans are predicted to travel during the holiday weekend via car, Deseret News reported.