Phones are a vital part of the operation of most business and government offices. If you can deliberately tie-up their phone lines for an hour or two (or a day or two!), they’ll be more likely to respond to your campaign’s demands.
Not only are you applying economic pressure by interrupting business-as-usual, you are delivering a message with every call. Also, it is it can be done from anywhere, and it’s easy for people to participate.
An Example
In 2015, Shell Oil leased a Port of Seattle terminal to house their Arctic drilling fleet. Activists opposed deluged the phone lines and email accounts of firms that were supporting the company’s stay in Seattle.
Protesters created a website where they distributed a sign-up schedule and links to phone numbers and email addresses of Shell affiliates to be targeted throughout business hours on a Monday.
The aim was to “keep their phones ringing, their voice mail full and their email mounting for eight hours,” the post stated. “We make our voices an immediate concern because we are tying up the resources they use to do business.”
