Does boycotting work?

[E10 Rifle]

The best golden rule, I find, on boycotts is to work out who, if anyone, is calling for them. They work best when they're a response to grassroots pressure from the people at the sharp end. Which was certainly true in apartheid SA and seems to be largely the case in Palestine.

Boycotting something just because you don't want the consumption of it on your conscience is a rather less good reason.

[Bored Of Education]

That's interesting. So would you say that avoiding companies that, say, use sweat shop labour in favour of more ethical companies is not a good reason or does that not count as boycotting?