It's not that I don't want to boycott ABC.
But I'd have to consume their crap. Or their advertisers' crap. Or anything from Disney.
Specifics after the flip.
I'm sure we've got some Mirimar distro DVDs downstairs. But we have more Stephen Chow movies from
Sensasian or PAL-format series from the UK.
I'd blocked ABC Family when I found out that they carried the 700 Club. I'd blocked the Disney Channel (consumable by nephews) when I saw a promo for one of the "merchandising movies" -- it might have been Finding Nemo. I stopped watching broadcast news in 1997.
My mom bought me some Disney crap the last time I visited her down in FL, and I handed it back to her. Yes, I explained. She had no idea that I decline to consume anything made by Disney since about 1966.
I don't like any of ABC's comedies or reality programming or "news magazines" sans news. I'd occasionally catch the local newsmagazine Chronicle and Boston Legal, and very occasionally a sporting event.
Broadcast advertising is pretty ineffective on me. Herr Doktor always mutes commercials, or changes channels. I mute the irritating ones, and kibitz the campy ones. And, frankly, the stuff we buy often doesn't get advertised on TV. We don't buy SUVs (and we've already picked out the replacement for my 'Bus, which I'd be shocked if it were advertised). We don't buy "convenience" foods (DiGiorno, HotPockets, Campbells Soup, what-have-you). We don't eat fast food. We patronize local farmers markets, greengrocers, bakers, garden centers, butchers, and family-owned restaurants. We don't buy prescriptions online, and I find medical advertising repugnant (the side effects listed on the Cialis commercial make me ill).
Just now, we watched some of the commercials during Countdown. Most of the ads were for national businesses who don't operate here, or for our cable provider, or for movies coming out on DVD which we'd rather not ever see. There was one ad for travel, with a .travel address posted, which was intriguing, but I can't remember the name of it 5 minutes later; or for some exercise video (heh). We're married, and HerrDoktor's an atheist, so eHarmony.com isn't really going to get any customers here.
I don't have a Tivo because we're planning to build our own MythTV (or equivalent) this winter. We don't like the "phone home" and "recommendations" feature, and we want to slap a terabyte or two in there, along with a wireless card so I don't have to fish wires through the walls.
We travel, but we book directly or through a travel agent, and we don't go on "packaged vacations" or cruises.
I can't boycott something I don't use anyway.
So what can I do to ABC/Disney, besides continue ignoring their very existence?