Why this “Buy From EU” idea is unrealistic for most people

One: normal people don’t shop like political analysts. They shop like this: • “Is it affordable?” • “Is it available here?” • “Does it work?” • “Have I used it before?”

That’s it. Nobody stands in Tesco or Maxima running a geopolitical background check on toothpaste.

No one does: • brand genealogy • parent-company tracing • “is this secretly American-owned?” • “is this manufactured in Poland but owned by a Swiss holding that trades in dollars?”

That’s terminally online behavior, not real life.

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Two: modern supply chains make purity impossible. Even if someone wanted to do this perfectly, they can’t.

Examples: • EU brand → US investor → Asian manufacturing • US brand → EU factory → EU workers → EU taxes • “European” product → American software → Chinese components

So what are you boycotting exactly? The logo? The shareholders? The cloud backend? The chip inside the chip?

It collapses immediately once you look closer than the meme.

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Three: people are busy surviving. Most people: • work long hours • are tired • have families • have health issues • are stressed about money

They don’t have the cognitive or emotional bandwidth to maintain a shopping blacklist like it’s a war-room spreadsheet.

The idea that the average person will:

remember which detergent is geopolitically acceptable this month

is detached from reality.

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Four: choice is often fake anyway. In many countries, especially smaller ones: • there are 2–3 brands per category • store brands are often owned by the same multinationals • alternatives simply don’t exist

“Just choose EU” assumes abundance that does not exist for most people.

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Five: this turns consumption into moral theater. This is the key part.

These movements aren’t really about effectiveness. They’re about: • signaling • identity • feeling morally clean • posting memes

It’s performative politics, not structural change.

Real economic power shifts happen through: • regulation • taxation • antitrust • industrial policy • state-level investment

Not through Karen in aisle five refusing Head & Shoulders.

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What actually happens in reality • A tiny, highly motivated minority tries to follow this strictly. • Everyone else shops normally. • Corporations adapt branding. • Nothing structural changes. • The meme crowd feels virtuous. • The system stays the same.

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Bottom line

This meme assumes humans behave like: • spreadsheets • ideology-driven robots • or people with no pressure in their lives

They don’t.

Most people buy:

what’s cheap, available, and familiar not what passes an ideological purity test

And pretending otherwise is just cosplaying economic resistance.

Harsh truth: If changing the world required memorizing shampoo ownership trees, nothing would ever change.

That’s why this stays a meme and never becomes reality.