Protests seem futile

I can see how you'd think that but they do have some effect. They give companies bad pr and makes them look bad, which has an effect on how the public view them, which lead to them avoiding buying their products in favour of another company's, even if subconsciously. So those companies hate protests and try to avoid them, and try to stop any active ones by changing their policies. Also governments hate looking bad on the world stage, they want to appear to be the most progressive country, so they don't want word of massive protests getting out either.