It seems boycotts are pretty lame

Who invented them?
What are the goals of such boycotts?
Why bother?

If you read Minhaj as-Sunnah by Shaikh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah you find that boycotting first came about int he time of the Umawy Empire, the Rawafidh brought it about due to their extreme hate of Yazeed bin Mu`awiyah, they used to boycott the wells he dug for the masses, as well as boycotting some good that would come from the Shaam region (Modernday Jordan/Syria/Lebanon/Palestine) of Arabia, since the people of Shaam showed open alliegence to Yazeed.

It seems these boycotters think that the Kuffar will stop bothering Muslims because the Muslims will not by their products. But if one was to investigate, they’de find that it’s Muslim Businessmen that lose large amounts of money due to the fact that they have binding contracts as agents of the Boycotted Company in their country. So, essentially, the Muslim Businessmen lose tons and tons of lost sales, while the Original Boycotted Company just decreases production or diverts products to another Consumer Country… who’s the winner… who’s the loser?

Why bother? I haven’t the slightest clue, perhaps it’s so all these lame people who are SO far from their Religion can experience a temporary High, while they think they are helping Islam by not eating a certain type of Cheese or Drink, rather than practising the tennets of their Beautiful Religion (?)