Buycott app lets you avoid buying from companies you don't like

SEATTLE -- A new app allows supermarket shoppers to boycott companies that violate their principles.

Buycott allows you to scan the barcode of any product and trace its ownership all the way to its top corporate parent company, according to Forbes. Once you've scanned the item, Buycott will show you its corporate family tree. If you scan a box of Splenda, for instance, you'll see its parent company is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

You can also join user-created campaigns to boycott certain business practices rather than single companies, Forbes reported. One such campaign will scan your box of cereal and tell you if it was made by a corporation that donated more than $150,000 to oppose the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food.

Other Buycott campaigns encourage shoppers to support certain brands, like those that have openly backed LGBT rights. Scan a bag of Starbucks and you'll see the company came out for equal marriage.

The free app is the brainchild of a 26-year-old freelance programmer based in Los Angeles. It's available for download on iPhone or Android and makes its debut on iTunes and Google Play in early May.

You can read the entire Forbes article here.