I'm not talking about boycotts in general, like say the Montgomery Bus Boycott, because we know those can work. I'm talking about "Company that sells product made me mad" boycotts.
Whether it's past ones like the infamous Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2/Left 4 Dead 2 boycotts, or more recently like the brewing chud Pride Month boycotts (And if we're being brutally honest here on the flipside: The all-but-in-name boycott of that Harry Potter game a month or 2 ago), all of them seem to universally fail spectacularly and not impede their targets in any way.
the boycott of south african products during apartheid did put pressure to end apartheid
Chinese engaged in several very effective boycotts of Japanese products in the 1930s. The Japanese even got so angry they demanded the Chinese government stop the boycotts and attacked if they didn't.
wouldn't call that a success for China. Given the Japanese did attack and millions of people died
The 1937 invasion of China wasn't caused by a boycott, it was caused by the Kwantung Army acting on its own without orders from Tokyo.
I'm obviously talking about things like the boycotts organized after the May Fourth Movement, Jinan Incident, and so on. I mean, duh.
I don't know much about it but I would be surprised if the tensions between the two nations didn't influence the Kwantung army's decision to act. It wasn't just a random event like a lighting strike