This Brand’s Not Made for You and Me

A jaunt through the history of boycotts – the ones I’ve joined in, anyway – to help us realize the power of putting the wallet back in the pocket.

This brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
From Delano grape fields
To Montgomery buses
From Nestle’s formula to fossil fuel stocks
This brand’s not made for you and meI’ve roamed and rambled
And followed the footsteps
Of corporate criminals,
Government accessories
And all around me a voice was sounding
This brand’s not made for you and meAs I went walking
I saw South Africa
An apartheid system
With Polaroid passbooks
I didn’t play Sun City, I’m not that shitty
That boycott was made for you and meTo keep us buying
Sometimes they’re lying
Maybe domination
Is their occupation
Do they do aggression, even dispossession
That brand’s not made for you and meIf you’re ever wonderin’
Is the seller plunderin’
Let your conscience wake up
Give the thing a smell test
Is it bad for the planet or indigenous people
That brand’s not made for you and meThis brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
It oppresses workers
It oppresses women
So don’t buy bombers
Tear gas or land grabs
This brand’s not made for you and me

This brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
If it steals the wages
If it steals the farmland
If it takes the power
For one tenth of one percent
This brand’s not made for you and me