I don't think it's that naive. The argument, to me, is that bringing people into Texas to work shows that you are comfortable with the conditions. Similarly, increasing your investment there shows you're comfortable with it.
They can try to limit new hires to people already in Texas, or only move single males in, but these options aren't appropriate for the 21st century. Simple retail operations, or even warehouse operations, aren't really non-local-hiring issues. So they're the least offensive/most-explainable options.
Yeah, they can go all sports league and boycott Texas, but then they'd have to get out of China or other distasteful places. Or, they should just admit "we're just in it for the money, suck it up" and stopping their posturing.
And no matter what you say or do re: Austin, it's in Texas. Nothing they can do, really, against their own state laws. Similarly, Montreal is a great city, but it's in Quebec and thus under the rule system of Quebec.
At the end of the day, it's up to people to follow their moral compass in their daily lives. Companies are sociopathic.