Written by Alyssa Sonnenburg
Over the past two years, heavy pushback has worked against the LGBTQ and “woke” agendas implemented by a variety of companies.
Among them are Walmart, Ford, Harley-Davidson, and Toyota, who are all taking steps back from their DEI initiatives and LGBTQ+ support.
Even Target, one of the most radical companies in the United States, recently announced its plans to roll back on its wokeness.
This new development is, of course, amazing.
No one expected the retail giant to admit defeat despite the continuous blows to their profit margins.
Yet, it seems that eventually, money does matter. And money can move mountains.
To refresh your memory, Target started its moral downward spiral back in 2014 when it became one of the largest corporate champions of same-sex marriage.
The Pioneer Press ran a hit piece on Target’s progressive stance and wrote,
“Target finally threw its corporate weight behind marriage equality…”
In addition to this, under the leadership of CEO Brian Cornell, he has continued to lead Target down more and more progressive paths.
Target became one of the first companies to sign legal briefs related to the redefinition of marriage. In 2016, it became one of the first companies to open women’s restrooms and fitting rooms to biological men (a step that many other companies would not follow until years down the road).
However, the nail in the coffin for Target was its radical push in 2023 to include “tuck-friendly” swimwear, chest binders, and “packing” underwear for kids in honor of Pride month. Yes, that’s right, for kids!
This is seemingly when parents finally had enough. Target’s woke agenda had gone too far.
Their action boosted a boycott already in effect since 2016 by the American Family Association. By 2017, the company’s profits had plunged 43% during the fourth quarter and its stock prices plummeted more than 13% to a new two-year low.
Yet despite all of this, CEO Brian Cornell remained in denial.
In May of 2023, Cornell mocked the outrage Target was facing due to its radical Pride agenda and even called the “tuck-friendly” swimwear and chest binders “a great thing for our brand.”
He even insisted that the clothing campaign was “driving sales” when exactly the opposite was happening.
Fast-forward to today, and it seems as though Target is finally acknowledging that it went too far. (Because money can move even the largest mountains.)
It’s difficult to find out exactly how much revenue has been lost since 2016. According to USA Today reporting on a lawsuit over its controversial 2023 Pride Collection, filed by American First Legal:
The lawsuit accused Target’s board of directors of only focusing on its environmental, social, governance and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and that its Pride campaign overlooked the risk of negative backlash, ultimately leading the company to lose over $25 billion in market capitalization.
While there were rumblings of this in 2024 with Target’s annual Pride campaign being decidedly more toned down, Target’s recent announcement still came as a shock to those who thought they would never back down.
The major shifts Target announced were detailed in a post on X from conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who is trying to bring back sanity to corporate America. The shifts include:
- Surveys: Target will no longer participate in the HRC’s woke Corporate Equality Index or any other DEI index.
- Products: Target will not market Pride merchandise to kids going forward…
- Sponsorships: Target will ‘further evaluate corporate partnerships to ensure they are directly connected to our roadmap for growth’ — you should read this as no sponsoring events that sexualize kids!
- DEI: Target will end its 3-year DEI goals.
- Supplier Diversity: There will be no preferential treatment for diverse suppliers.
- Target will end their Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives in 2025.
- ERGs: Target employee resource groups will be expected to focus on the core business, mentorship, and growth, not wokeness.
No matter how you look at it, this is a massive win for conservatives!
While Target is by no means a “conservative” company with family values, it does seem as though the backlash the company received since 2016, and even more so in 2023, got through to the higher-ups.
In fact, the American Family Association recently announced, “AFA Ends Boycott of Target.”
“For the past nine years, AFA has led the boycott of the Target corporation over that company’s decision to allow men into the bathrooms and changing areas used by women and girls…
So, while Target is far from a good actor in the culture war, we asked ourselves if the boycott had served its purpose. The answer is YES. While Target didn’t officially rescind its misguided policy, we believe the overall effect of the boycott caused Target to rethink how it promotes left-wing policies…
Therefore, having examined the overall effect of this effort, AFA is officially ending its boycott of the Target corporation.”
The Target boycott worked, and we can be very proud of ourselves that it did.
