Corporate Accountability International challenged General Electric, at the height of the Cold War, to stop producing and promoting nuclear weapons…and won.
At that time GE built more parts to more nuclear weapons systems than any other corporation. It was also considered the most powerful U.S.-based corporation, as it used its clout to access and promote nuclear weapons at the highest levels of government.
We launched a boycott of GE consumer products in 1986. The United Methodist Church (the third-largest religious denomination in the United States) joined the boycott, and major retail stores including Safeway and Target began stocking light bulbs made by other companies.
We partnered with faith-based allies who had ties to hospitals, particularly Catholic women’s communities, to focus the boycott on GE medical equipment. Ultimately, this cost the corporation over $100 million in lost medical equipment sales.
Corporate Accountability International also released an Academy-Award-winning documentary film “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment.”
In 1993, GE caved under enormous public and financial pressure and officially moved out of the nuclear weapons business.
