McDonalds Boycott BACKFIRES As Organizer Accidently EXPOSES Himself!

Organizer’s Shady Past and Bot Network Exposed Amidst New McDonald’s Boycott

What’s going on, everyone? Jerry here from TheQuartering, and we’re back to report on McDonald’s finding itself in hot water yet again. We’ve previously covered the outrageous price increases at McDonald’s over the past five to ten years, noting how they seemingly took advantage of customers post-lockdowns by systematically raising prices and reducing value. While it seemed our message was heard, with price increases slowing and value starting to return, McDonald’s is now facing a different kind of challenge: a nationwide boycott organized by a group called The People’s Union USA.

The boycott is planned to run from June 24th to June 30th. This group, which advocates for “economic resistance” as a means towards “corporate accountability and real justice for the working class,” is adding McDonald’s to a growing list of companies targeted this year as part of their “economic blackout tour”. Newsweek has reportedly reached out to McDonald’s and The People’s Union USA’s founder, John Schwarz, for comment.

The first half of 2025 has seen numerous boycotts against household name companies, often sparked by corporations rolling back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, as well as broader pushback against practices like tax avoidance and underpaying workers. McDonald’s has also been dealing with a pro-Palestine boycott since late 2023, due to alleged complicity with actions of an Israeli military group.

The People’s Union USA has been busy this year, orchestrating boycotts against Amazon, Walmart, and Target since February, alongside periodic “economic blackouts.” They urge Americans to avoid shopping, streaming, online orders, fast food, and everything in between, and instead to rely exclusively on small, local businesses. While we often support shopping local when possible, the practicality of it for all purchases can be tough.

The McDonald’s boycott, however, has received less attention than their campaigns against Walmart, Amazon, and Target. Interestingly, Mr. Schwarz previously stated that Target should be subject to a permanent boycott to “feel the full power of the people”. The People’s Union USA’s core grievances with targeted companies, including McDonald’s, largely center around tax avoidance, worker conditions, and monopolistic practices. Specifically for McDonald’s, they cite “tax avoidance and known lobbying against wage increases”. It’s worth noting that McDonald’s, via its VP of Government Relations, Jenna Gent, stated in a 2019 letter that the company would “not use our resources including lobbyists or staff to oppose minimum wage increases at the federal state or local levels,” nor would they participate in advocacy efforts designed to defeat wage increases.

The Man Behind the Curtain: John Schwarz’s Troubling Past

Now, here’s where things get really interesting, and frankly, disturbing. The man at the center of this “economic blackout” movement, John Schwarz, has a deeply troubling past that was not included in his official biography.

Mr. Schwarz has served time for “assaying women” and was previously registered as an offender after pleading guilty to disseminating voyeuristic material. This means he was caught filming people without their knowledge or consent.

Further details from court records reveal that in 2007, a Connecticut judge sentenced Mr. Schwarz to 90 days in jail and five years probation for disseminating voyeuristic material. According to a Hartford Courant report cited in court documents, Schwarz, then 39, was accused in 2006 of photographing an unconscious 18-year-old and texting the image to her cell phone. The young woman told investigators she and a friend visited his home to watch a movie, and he offered them pudding. She stopped eating it because it “tasted weird,” and both she and her friend subsequently passed out, feeling nauseous and weak, believing they might have been drugged.

While Schwarz claims the whole thing was “completely fabricated” and a “big scam,” he did plead guilty at the time, which means he acknowledged that prosecutors likely had enough evidence to convict him. He is now on the sex offender list.

Manufacturing Outrage: The Bot Network Exposure

As if Schwarz’s past isn’t enough, it turns out The People’s Union USA, the very same group that claimed to have “stuck it to Target for their DEI backlash,” might not have been as effective as they claimed. A cyber firm revealed that the viral backlash against Target was partly driven by fraudulent social media accounts.

The firm found that 3,379 (later updated to 3,400) accounts pushed out negative social media posts against Target, and of the 2,226 social media accounts analyzed, 27% of them were fake. These inauthentic accounts generated over a thousand posts, creating what looked like widespread public consensus online but was, in fact, manufactured. The CEO of the cyber firm stated that companies are “making multi-million dollar decisions based on data generated by bots” and “betting the shareholder values on signals that aren’t even real”.

While the exact connection isn’t explicitly stated in the cyber firm’s report itself, we’ve identified that this fraudulent social media campaign was, in fact, run by The People’s Union USA. This suggests that much of the outrage they claimed to orchestrate was not genuine, but manufactured using bot networks. The original, real pushback against Target’s policies was legitimate, but this organized campaign was not.

It seems the endless thirst for internet clout has backfired on Mr. Schwarz and The People’s Union USA. Now, not only do we know about the organizer’s criminal past, but we also know that he allegedly uses bots to manufacture fake outrage. This raises serious questions about the legitimacy and true impact of their planned McDonald’s boycott.