The Court has ruled that the Constitution does not give workers the right to enter private property to engage in picketing or handbilling activity, even though the property is open to the public. The Supreme Court sent the Hudgens case back to the Board to determine whether Taft-Hartley gave to workers a right of access to the private property. The Board ruled that workers have a right to publicize their primary dispute which may outweigh the property rights of the owner, if the only way workers can publicize the dispute is to go on the private property. In conducting boycott campaigns, the most serious problem is a practical one, not a legal issue. Even if consumers are willing to support a boycott, an effective campaign requires tremendous discipline.
Few employers are dependent upon a single product or type of product for their profits.
A limited boycott may have marginal impact on the aggregate demand for the goods or services of the employer. Employers which market their product under numerous names are difficult to boycott because the employer is not readily identifiable by the product name. In some cases, the production of a consumer good is so concentrated that an effective boycott requires extensive sacrifice by the consumer. If the boycotted employer makes the vast majority of products sold, it is very difficult for the consumer to seek out alternative purchases. Consumer Boycotts which illustrates some of these problems.