People are calling for boycotts of Amazon on Prime Day - but you might be giving the company money even if you don't realize it

Áine Cain

Jul 15, 2019, 21:21 IST

People are calling for boycotts of Amazon on Prime Day - but you might be giving the company money even if you don't realize it

Lynne Sladky/AP Images

Amazon owns high-profile companies like Goodreads, IMDb, Ring, Twitch, and Whole Foods.

Amazon Prime Day 2019 is kicking off today, along with a strike in the company's warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota.
To show solidarity with the striking workers, some online activists are calling for shoppers to boycott the 48-hour sale.
But Amazon's stable of high-profile acquisitions makes it trickier to avoid the retailer entirely.
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Amazon Prime Day is here, but not everyone's happy about it. Some online users have taken to social media to call for a boycott against Amazon, expressing their solidarity with the warehouse employees currently striking in Minnesota.

Amazon didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The tech giant has accrued a number of other major companies that people use every single day. So participating in a boycott is not as easy as just logging out of your Amazon account for the day.

If you're trying to get your organic fix at Whole Foods, buy a new pair of shoes on Zappos, stream a video game on Twitch, or monitor your home's safety on Ring, you're interacting with an Amazon subsidiary.

Social media users promoting the boycott sought to clarify which sites and products constitute as "crossing the picket line" today.

But for casual shoppers less aware of Amazon's reach, it's a good indication that shoppers could be unwittingly supporting the online giant without even realizing it.

Got tips? Email acain@businessinsider.com.

Amazon has so deeply integrated itself into our lives thru things like its web hosting that it may be difficult to *completely* boycott today them but you can abstain from using Prime, going to Whole Foods, or using it's services. #PrimeDayAmazon #PrimeDayStrike #PrimeDay pic.twitter.com/5r5NGeiLv4
- Alicia Crosby (@aliciatcrosby) July 15, 2019

Dear lovely Twitch friends, I will not be touching Twitch tomorrow and Tuesday in support of the Amazon Prime Day worker's strike because Twitch is owned by Amazon. I encourage you to do the same. #PrimeDay #primedaystrike #Solidarity
- Widow�� (@saintwidow) July 15, 2019

FRIENDLY REMINDER TO NOT USE GOODREADS DURING THIS WHOLE PRIME DAY THING! �� #PrimeDayStrike
- �� (@riseofthelee_) July 15, 2019

Yes it's #PrimeDay but it's also the #AmazonStrike. Amazon's Warehouse employees are going on strike for better pay. Also...

Amazon owns IMDB
Amazon owns Twitch
Amazon owns Whole Foods
Amazon owns Audible

Don't cross that picket line, physically or virtually.
- MrTuesday (@wwetuesday) July 15, 2019

Happy Prime Day! Have fun shopping!

ok now that everyone's gone; dont buy into it, it's propaganda and workers are going on strike too. don't touch any of Amazon's stuff. not even IMDb.
- kryode (@itskryode) July 15, 2019

For the boycott, remember Amazon owns

6pm
Abebooks
ACX
Audible
Book Depository
Box Office Mojo
Comixology
CreateSpace
DPReview
East Dane
Goodreads
IMDb
Kindle
PillPack
Twitch
Shopbop
Whole Foods
Woot!
Zappos
& more

If you can stay off any of these sites today & tomorrow, pls do pic.twitter.com/KBYwfU6UOs
- Benby is doing #CampNaNoWriMo (@AceOfBens) July 15, 2019