This App Makes It Easier To Protest Stores That Don't Align With Your Values

Standing up for what you believe in isn't always a simple task when it involves deciding where to spend your money.

It is easy to forget that certain stores have trash morals when you're in the middle of the brightly lit shop, listening to great house music, and you spot an affordable work dress that would go perfectly with the new shoes you bought last week.

Or maybe it's just me who has walked out of a store with bags full of stuff I love, only to be reminded when I get home that the store is known for wage discrimination and I actually vowed not to shop there anymore.

Every time a headline comes out about a place that underpays its workers (Walmart), or culture appropriates (Victoria's Secret) or has other unfair labor practices (Zara), I swear off of the retailer for life.

But then I answer the prayer of these brands' PR teams and just forget.

Charge it to the head, not the heart.

But now there's an app for that!

The "Nudge For Change" app sends push pin notifications that alert you closer to the time of purchase if you're about to spend money in a place that doesn't align with your values.

The app, which is currently available only on iPhones but will soon hit Androids, determines the push pin notifications according to the value preferences that you set when you download it. The list of preferences includes LGBTQ+ equality, gender equality, racial equality, sustainability and worker's rights.

The brand's CEO, Aaron Hayes, tells Elite Daily that the idea was inspired by his feelings about the 2016 election.

He says,

I was feeling quite down and thinking, “What next? What do we do?” I've been taking the last 8 years off, sort of relaxing and letting Obama take care of the country. As I was thinking, I realized everyone has that question about what to do. Some people are going to get super involved. Others are just going to not know what to do. I wanted to reach out to people who want to do something, who know things are bad but don't have the time to go to protests. They may not want to speak out.

He was also inspired by other apps with a similar mission.

I looked up the Boycott Trump app and Grab Your Wallet apps and thought, 'Those are nice,' but I don't have time to memorize a list of bad companies. I wanted to make it simpler.

Businesses, have no fear — unless you're guilty.

The Nudge For Change research team doesn't just keep the public in the know about bad businesses. They also provide alternatives within the same notification.

Also, the researchers update their databases to reflect positive changes a business has made as well.

Hayes says,

"We want to be accurate but we also want to forgive. If a company decides they want to provide better healthcare to their employees, we update that in the app."

This is how the Nudge notifications look on your phone:

If your schedule puts you near a place on your list every day, there's a fix.

Hayes admits that users may not want a notification about every business that goes against their preferences.

This is why he's developed a "No Nudge List" that allows you to add any company that you don't want to be warned about all the time.

The location tracking makes some users understandably wary.

After all, we know how weird it it feels to know that Uber basically follows us even when we're not Uber-ing.

Hayes stresses that the Nudge For Change up does not take down personal information, not even an email.

He says,

We aren't going to dig into who you are. We don't need to know personal information. This is really about you and not about us.

Ready to put your money where your morals are?