What is a ‘gas boycott’ & will it actually lower prices?

ORLANDO, Fla. — With sky-high gas prices staying put, some people are trying to bring the prices down themselves.

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An expert said the social media movement just won’t work.

“Do not buy gas for your car July 3 through the 5,” a social media user said. “We are going to work together and drive the price down,” another man said.

One video on TikTok has nearly 15 million views. With high gas prices, people are looking for relief and many are hopeful a drop in demand from a boycott may do the trick.

“By avoiding filling up for a couple days — that won’t do anything,” said Patrick De Haan with Gas Buddy.

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De Haan has seen hundreds of posts pushing for the boycott.

Several people claim that this has been done before and has worked.

They point to 2008.

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“I look back at charts from 2008 and guess what, there’s no major impact from a boycott. Gas prices plummeted in September and October 2008. And that continued. That was because the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Wall Street and what tipped us into a recession,” De Haan said.

So what will it take to bring the prices down?

“There’s not really a great fix. Otherwise, we would have done it by now. We are kind of stuck in this moment. A lot of that has been brought down by Russia’s war in Ukraine,” De Haan said. “There’s simply not enough refining capacity. In addition, there’s not enough oil on the global market.”

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We are seeing dips at the pump. De Haan said it is because of some modest improvements and economic concerns of a recession, not a boycott.

“It wouldn’t surprise me that somebody takes credit for the fall on prices that we’re already seeing. But that’s a trend I think should continue, at least for now,” De Haan said.

Although prices are decreasing slightly, they are still the highest on record for the Fourth of July travel period.

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