Why a gasoline boycott won’t work

The ‘Don’t pump gas on May 15′ chain e-mail may be a natural response to record prices and profits, but experts say it’ll do no good.

It’s easy to hate Big Oil. Gasoline prices are at record highs, over $3 a gallon. Oil companies have so much cash they can’t figure out where to spend it.

So when an e-mail arrives urging people to buy no gas on May 15 – saying it would take nearly $3 billion away from oil companies “for just one day” and promising a 30 cent a gallon drop in gas prices “overnight” – it’s awfully tempting to go along, savoring that bit of guilty pleasure knowing you’re sticking it to Exxon Mobil (Charts, Fortune 500), Chevron (Charts, Fortune 500), BP (Charts) or what ever oil company sells gas on your block.

Don’t be fooled.

“A one-day boycott makes no sense whatsoever,” said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy organization. “You’re not reducing consumption, you’re just buying on a different day.”

CNN