"Boycott Coca-Cola"

Coca-Cola is closing a few it's manufacturing plants in Spain and the Spanish citizens are not having it. Just like European fashion, they're having a protest to try and save the nearly 750 jobs that will be lost.

I'm not sure how to react to this. During the darkest times of the Recession back home thousands of jobs were lost and it seemed like no one protested. People just got what was coming to them. I mean, Spain is different. The economic crisis has been going on for a very long time and the employment rate is extremely high so there is some reason to protest.

I guess my issue is, how effective is protesting? Does crying wolf one too many times lessen the significance of a noteworthy protest? Is protesting just a way to let out some steam?