has a petition EVER worked?

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Yes, concerning film there are indeed several examples where strong public pressure from the users has been successful:

The internet has provided a marvellous source of customer feedback and some companies have woken up to it more quickly than others.

If Fuji receives one thousand letters about retaining a borderline product, they have to spend a lot of resource deciding whether they come from the only thousand people who will buy the product or whether the thousand letters represent 1% of customers who want to go on buying.

If one million people sign an internet petition to retain the product, it's a good indication that the marketing department got things wrong by deciding to close down production.

I've worked at a few places in the last few years who have started carefully searching the net for feedback on their products and perceived quality of service. The general view is that ten letters of complaint carry a lot less weight than five negative postings, if only because the postings may be seen by many thousands of potential customers.