I think there could be two very different versions of boycotting going on here. There's staunch, "line in the sand" style activism. This is driving halfway across town to shop at the gay-friendly second-hand bookstore while you eat your imported skyre. I'll dub this Dan Savage Style. There's also "soccer mom" boycotting, where you try to avoid Target and Chick-Fil-A, unless your kids REALLLY want that awful sandwich with only chicken, bread, and a pickle.

In the so-called free market the US uses for business interaction, I'm a much larger fan of the latter style of boycotting. Any PR is generally good PR, even if you're associated with race riots and mass lynching (see: Tulsa). Name recognition is more important than why your name is recognized. Chick-Fil-A saw a huge spike in sales in my hometown because all the backwater rednecks who generally survive on Arby's Cups-o-Cheddar thought they needed to defend their Sky Jesus by eating more chicken, so they descended in droves with greasy wads of cash in hand.

Meanwhile, if you just go about your business, avoiding companies you know to be vehemently against your views, you're doing a bit of good, you're not expending unnecessary energy, and you're not that guy who never gets invited to dinner because of the forty minute speech about the injustices committed against mother earth to deliver that crystal decanter. (Aside: I have been that guy. I probably am that guy still. See: Zero Dark Thirty).

All that aside: if you're the CEO of a company, maybe you follow the CostCo model. Don't be a dick, keep your trap shut about social issues that don't concern you, and sell me my M&Ms by the cargo plane.