Boycotting; Oversaid and Underused?

It seems that every then and now television gains notoriety to the point that it causes uproar from fans and viewers that declare that they will no longer watch the program in question.

However I wonder how much these self proposed boycotts actually followed through? And if this is the desired reaction on behalf of the viewers because the way that I see it producers will want to evoke emotion, and yes, push it to the boundary of boycott because most of those viewers will come running on back.

Is boycotting like saying you’ll give up the grog cold turkey- without any rewards to replace it with? In that this term is merely a fallacy to believe and success rate is rather low?

Thoughts?