Investing in the stock market is a different story, as the capital invested does not flow to the company itself, but rather to the previous owner of the stock. (alignimpact.com)
For example, stockholder action is a strategy in which owners of stock in a company which advertises on TV seek to get the company to adopt a policy not to place advertising on violent programs. (religion-online.org)
The reason for this is that the dividend is paid to the new owner of the stock (the person who you sold the stock to), but the person you borrowed the stock from still owns it and is still owed the dividend as well. (harvestingdividends.com)