i think it’s funny people criticize my posts about kadokawa on social media for actively discouraging people to boycott, even though spontaneous consumer boycotts are rarely effective at all.

every successful boycott in history is carefully planned and has a lazer-focused target. they offer alternatives for boycotters to use; most famously, the montgomery bus boycott had people do ride-sharing in order to let them work and still protest at the same time.

blanket consumer boycotts, on the other hand, can be dangerous and detrimental to protest movements. they detach people from holding a voice against the company; they can be impractical for many people (kadokawa is as big as nestle, so imagine avoiding nestle’s bottled water in countries like indonesia); these protests can be more than easily dismissed as some cancel culture crap with zero meaning etc.

what had to be done (and indeed what we saw) is people organizing to protest against this bullshit. enough letters and complaints were sent out to kadokawa that shocked them to retract the publication two or three days after the announcement of the translation. translators, publishers, politicians, and everyday people around the world pressured so harshly the company that investors likely got spooked and things changes for the better. the fact this happened a day before people stood outside the kadokawa hq to protest the book is quite amazing.

i think this shows the power of organizing, that even corporations cower against masses of people chanting trans rights. boycotts don’t always help movements, but they definitely feel like they’re “helping” which is why people want this. but actually, organized protests are proven to work.

it isn’t that boycotts shouldn’t be part of the arsenal. to the contrary, they can be effective if calculated within a movement. it’s just rarely the first step to an actual successful movement.