It's an idea that pops up every year around the same time, like getting a flu shot or filing your taxes.

So: What WOULD happen if, for one day, everyone in the country protested the high price of gasoline by refusing to fill up at the pumps?

Thanks to the Internet, rumblings of a "National Gas Boycott Day" have come and gone every year for at least the past seven years.

The consensus seems to be that this year's day is May 15, according to myth-busting Web site Snopes.com Across the Internet, from Craigslist to Facebook to MySpace, tens of thousands are spreading the same message: Don't pump gas on May 15 and teach the major oil companies a lesson.

The problem? IT WON'T WORK. "If the boycott is just for one day, and then everyone goes back to buying gas the next day, that's not going to make any difference," said Todd Martin, the economic advisor to People's Bank in Bridgeport. Martin said that the boycott efforts were largely being wasted.

"If they wanted to make an impact, they'd advocate cutting their driving in half for a month, or using alternative forms of transportation for a month," he said. "That would actually have an impact."

The message advocating the boycott is thin by means of evidence the scheme will work. It makes reference to April of 1997, when "there was a 'gas

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out' conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gas prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight."

According to the Energy Information Administration, which provides official energy information from the U.S. government, no such drop ever occurred.

In April 1997, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline was $1.24. The price for March of the same year was $1.25.

"This has been tried for years, and it has had no affect at all," said Michael J. Fox, executive director of the Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers of America. "Their passion is in right place, but it won't accomplish the goal of lowering gas prices."

According to Snopes, the message spreading through the Web this year is almost verbatim to last year's, telling readers that there "are 72,110,073 members currently on the network, and the average car takes about 20 to 30 dollars to fill up." The notice speculates that a May 15 boycott would "take $2,163,302,190.00 out of the oil companys [sic] pockets for just one day."

That's $2.16 billion.

The 2005 movement suggested a Sept. 1 boycott, called "Stick It Up Their Behind" day, would cost oil companies $4.6 billion.

Experts say that logic is flawed for several reasons. The first problem is basic math: Assuming an average $25 per fill-up at the pump, the price figure saved from 72,110,073 boycotting would be $1,802,751,825, not $2,163,302,190. But more importantly, unless boycotters actively decreased their overall reliance on gasoline, the impact on the oil companies' bottom lines would be minimal.

In fact, it might lead to the exact opposite of the intended result.

"If this were to happen, it would mostly have an impact on local retailers," said Fox. "It would drive them out of business, which is what the big oil companies want, so they can continue to gouge prices."

Fox says that traditionally local gas retailers have nearly no say at all in the price of the gas they sell.

But if consumers want to make a dent in their energy bills, all hope is not lost. According to Martin of People.s, a more effective campaign would be a "lights-out day", where people are encouraged to reduce their home energy consumption. Such a day is being touted in Connecticut for May 12. (see Connecticut Post columnist Charles Walsh's " 'Lights Out Day' a flicker of rebellion" [www.connpost.com/charleswalsh/ci_5788352])

The reason a lights out day would work better is simple supply and demand.

"Doing that would actually decrease the demand by 1/30th for the month," said Martin. "As opposed to a gas boycott, where drivers will just fill up their car any other day of the week."

Keith Whamond, who covers regional issues for ConnPost.com, can be reached at 330-6388.