Maybe where you come from, what you said holds water. That is why you are misguided.
In the Torah world, we don’t boycott those who make it easier for us to keep the mitzvos.
Those companies are headquartered in major cities where they do know there is a difference between believing and non-believing Jews. They also know why they bother to get certification – because believing Jews are good customers who don’t abuse their products and give them a bad name (except maybe 2 days a year LOL). Non-believing Jews were the worst alcoholics and drug abusers when I was in university. Even now I say – shikker vi a goy, shiker un gedruggt vi a fryer Yid.
In the Torah Jewish world, we show gratitude to those who help us and we explain the difference between we who do right and others who do wrong in the name of other ideologies that are mislabeled as Judaism. We thank Hashem for separating us from the wrongdoers, and sadly that doesn’t always mean only non-Jews. And we remember when Jews were boycotted for no reason and we don’t do the same to others unless we know there is anti-Semitism involved.
A bunch of letters were sent to these firms with absurd messages and borderline threats. Anyone who ever bothered to read something as simple as the fine print on a Chivas or Auchentoshan ad or label would know that the counter-boycott doesn’t hurt West Dumbbelton one bit. One Google search would have put an end to the whole deal.
The boycotters got responses that actually showed some impatience at the ignorance of the writers, who did not do any research. I don’t need a response, but I am sure I will get a simple “thank you for your support” with the same name as that on the response to the boycotters.
If you were boycotting products made at plants owned by the head of the local council, or even locally owned plants, you’d be 100% right. But the owners of those distilleries have no connection to the area. The distilleries themselves have been there since time immemorial and they’ve been through at least 3 industry consolidations in the last 50 years.
Whoever started the boycott, probably the guy in EY who doesn’t have much access to good mashke and doesn’t know who makes what, just went off like a loose cannon. The name of his blog shows that he’s out for attention.
If I were a distillery worker and heard about these Jews threatening my livelihood, I would be the first one to go to my local council and demand that they continue to boycott the state of Israel. I’d also ask that they stop letting “the men in black” or “the beards” or “the J-killers” into the distillery to certify it. That is assuming I wasn’t a true Scotsman with a hot enough temper to go to Glasgow and turn over some tables in the little kosher restaurant they have over there.
The worst part is that I am sure many of the men’s club armchair activists from yenner movement were the first to boycott Rubashkin for their (probably barely kosher anyway) shul cholent based on unfounded rumors of animal cruelty started by activists of their own ilk that then set off a horrible chain of events. In fact I am sure that one chutzpanyak from that movement, who I know personally and who made a lot of noise against Rubashkin, is part of this miserable men’s club movement that sends tefillin to self-proclaimed “anusim” in South America who use them to pray to J and to non-halachic Jews in Asia who have no idea what to do with them either.
I once got a boycott notice from another known loose cannon. She had about 10 brands on her list that were owned by ISRAELI firms in Europe, and another 2 that were huge supporters of Israel. Loose cannons like this don’t do their research because they want to shock people and get attention.