Target is assailed on both sides in LGBTQ+ fight
Confrontations cause retailer to pull some Pride- themed items — leading to criticism from another front.
Target once distinguished itself as being boldly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.
Now it risks losing that status after removing some LGBTQ+- themed products, and hiding Pride Month displays in certain Southern locations, in response to online complaints and in- store confrontations that it says were a threat to employees’ well- being.
Target faces a potential second backlash from customers who are upset by the discount retailer’s reaction to aggressive, antiLGBTQ+ activism, which has also been sweeping through Republican state legislatures. Civil rights groups chided the company Wednesday for caving to anti- LGBTQ+ customers who tipped over displays and expressed outrage over gender- f luid bathing suits.
“Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the f loors, not pushed into the proverbial closet,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “That’s what the bullies want.”
The uproar over Target’s Pride Month marketing — and its response to critics — is just the latest example of how companies are struggling to cater to different groups of customers at a time of extreme cultural divides, particularly around transgender rights.
Bud Light is still dealing with the fallout after an attempt to broaden its customer base by partnering with transgender inf luencer Dylan Mulvaney. Its parent company is tripling its U. S. marketing spending this summer as it tries to restore lost sales.
In Florida, Disney has been in a legal battle with
Gov. Ron DeSantis since expressing opposition to the state’s classroom limits on discussing gender identity and sexual orientation.
Allen Adamson, the cofounder and managing partner of the marketing f irm Metaforce, said Target should have anticipated the backlash and varied the products it sells by region.
“Once they fold to the more extreme edges of the issue, then they’ve lost their footing,” he said. “If you can change a big brand just by knocking over a display, then they are on the defense, and you never win on the defense.”
Shares of Target, which is based in Minneapolis, fell nearly 3% on Wednesday.
According to a 2021
Gallup poll, 21% of people in Generation Z identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, compared with 3% of baby boomers. Gallup has also found that younger consumers are most likely to want brands to promote diversity and take a stand on social issues.
“Pulling back is the worst thing that they could have done, said Jake Bjorseth, who runs trndsttrs, an agency helping brands understand and reach Gen Z customers. “Not to expect potential backlash is to not understand what [ LGBTQ+] members go through on a daily basis.”
It wasn’t long ago that Target was seen as a trailblazer among retailers in the way it embraced LGBTQ+ rights and customers.
It was among the f irst to showcase themed merchandise to honor Pride Month, which takes place in June, and it has been out front in developing relationships with LGBTQ+ suppliers.
In 2016, when U. S. debate exploded over transgender rights, the company put out a news release that declared “Inclusivity is a core belief at Target” and said it supported transgender employees and customers using whichever restroom or f itting room “corresponds with their gender identity.”
After facing boycotts and backlash from customers, Target announced months later that more stores would make available a single- toilet bathroom with a door that could be locked.
The company is operating in a very different environment now.
There are close to 500 anti- LGBTQ+ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender- affirming care for transgender minors, though judges have temporarily blocked their enforcement in some states.
The controversy at Target has been exacerbated by several misleading videos circulating online. In some, people falsely claimed the retailer was selling “tuckfriendly” bathing suits for kids. “Tuck friendly” suits allow trans women who have not had gender- affirming operations to conceal their private parts.
“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,” Target said Tuesday.
Online vitriol against Target’s Pride Month merchandise isn’t new. Law enforcement agencies last year monitored a social media threat from an Arizona man who said he was “leading the war” against Target for its Pride Month merchandise.