“You don’t need 100 percent of consumers on board for a boycott to work effectively,” said the director of a major advertising firm in Tehran, who did not want to reveal his name. “Even a 20 percent drop in consumption is enough to hurt a company.”


There are already signs that the boycott may be taking its toll on mobile operators. TCI shares on the Tehran Stock Exchange fell to an all-time low yesterday with a 6 percent drop over a two-week period, according to HAMNA, Iran’s mobile communication news agency.

Iran Cell, the country’s largest private operator, has also sustained losses. A senior executive of this company, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tehran Bureau that Iran Cell was losing “close to $250,000 a day” because of the drop in SMS volume.


Text messaging had played a vital role in pre-election campaigning " largely conveying anti-Ahmadinejad jokes and pro-Mousavi slogans " and was used to disseminate information about grassroots effort

. . . such as the “Green Human Chain” formed on the capital’s longest avenue the Monday before the day of the vote.

As the Iranian regime continues to clamp down violently on nonviolent protestors, it is finding that massive public anger can manifest itself in new ways, provoking unanticipated threats to the once-unassailable status quo.

Copyright © 2009 Tehran Bureau

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