| Sig’s points are right on.
There is an inherent contradiction in this plan. On the one hand, no one buys gas from EM because (we’re assuming that) virtually everyone has bought into this idea. So, EM’s market share drops to pretty much zero and is no longer a player in the market. On the other hand, because EM responds to their lack of sales by cutting prices, other companies are supposed to cut their prices too. But why? Companies drop prices in response to price competition from competitors. But what competition is EM giving its competitors if it is being perfectly boycotted? Why should an EM competitor lower their prices to keep its customers from going to buy cheaper gas at EM if the customers have already sworn to boycott EM? I don’t know how good an engineer this guy was who supposedly came up with this idea, but I think every econ professor in the country would give this wannabe economist an F.
And why should people single out EM? People are not going to boycott one company arbitrarily chosen for punishment. What makes EM a more appropriate target for boycott than its competitors? If that can’t be explained to people, they aren’t going to join in. Even if a couple million Americans thought EM should be boycotted, every one is going to drive on in to the EM station when they see gas that is one cent cheaper.
I can understand why people are angered by high gas prices, but people have this unreasonable expectation that everything they want in life should be cheap, regardless of supply and demand. But worldwide demand for petroleum has shot way up, much faster than supply. I sometimes get criticized for defending oil companies, but who’s the bigger friend of oil companies? Me, the guy who takes the bus to work, who drives a small car, and who seldom goes on road trips? Or, the oil company hater who drives a gas guzzler to work, who has a ski boat up at the cabin on the lake, and who drives their car between the city and their cabin every weekend of the summer? There’s a way to stick it to the oil companies---drive fewer miles, drive a more fuel efficient car, use less electricity at home.  | 
