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Multiple companies, from Walmart to Meta and McDonalds to John Deere, have announced they are scaling back their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in recent months. But Targets recent news that it, too, is rolling back such efforts is attracting more attention than most, much of it critical of the retailers apparent retreat. If theres a backlash to the DEI backlash, its main target may be Target.
While reiterating a commitment to inclusion, the company nonetheless announced it is concluding certain goals and initiatives tied to racial equity in hiring, and that it will no longer participate in external surveys from the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, and other groups. It also said it would rename its supplier diversity program, apparently shifting its focus away from explicitly courting brands with diverse ownership.
The moves even raised questions about the Minneapolis companys philanthropic commitments made in the wake of George Floyds killing in 2020. Calls for a boycott were nearly immediate, and the Twin Cities Pride parade announced it would no longer accept Target as a sponsor (and swiftly received donations that topped what Target had previously pledged).
This reaction has puzzled some on social media, given how many companies also seem to be distancing themselves from DEI. Why is there so much outrage and dialogue about Target specifically? asked content creator Kiandria Demone on Threads. Are people not aware that they are one of many?
Part of the answer is Targets prior reputation. People are angrier at Target because, for the most part, theyve been on the right side of history on a lot of issues, as one post put it. The big-box retailerwhile definitely not an overtly ideological brand in the vein of Ben & Jerrys or Patagoniahas over the years established a fairly progressive image. A 2018 Morning Consult study of brand polarization found Target did better than Walmart with Democratic-leaning voters, that Target shoppers were more likely to support gay marriage and trans rights and to oppose a border wall. The 2024 Axios Harris Poll ranking the reputations of 100 of the most visible brands in America counted Target among those viewed as skewed to the left.
A Target Pride display, ca. 2016 [Photo: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg/Getty Images]
Some of this may be attributed to the chain having more urban locations and focusing on a younger potential clientele. But in particular, Targets high-profile Pride Month promotions and merchandising sent a message about its read on the cultureand where it wanted its brand to be. While hardly strident, it telegraphed inclusive values as good for business. In 2022, one brand research agency named Target among the top 10 brands for LGBTQ+ consumers. I know that focus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years, Target CEO Brian Cornell said in 2023. Im really proud of the work weve done in the DE&I space.
That said, at least some of Targets progressive reputation arguably comes from a counterintuitive source: its conservative critics. In 2023, the company’s Pride merch inspired fervent calls for a boycott from the anti-woke mob, looking to make Target into the new Bud Light. Some hostile shoppers knocked over merchandise displays in stores and harassed Target workers, and in some cases the retailer moved or reduced displays and even removed some items.
City of Miami police officers keep an eye on protesters outside of a local Target store on June 1, 2023. [Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
Along the way, coverage from Fox News and other conservative media treated Target as a kind of culture-war punching bag, blurring its long-cultivated image as a contemporary and forward-looking mass retailer into a vaguely elite and out-of-touch brand. That narrative seems even harder to escape with the new Trump administration bent on making DEI the most demonized acronym in public life. And Target, which last year scaled back Pride promotions, has seen actual sales and its share price struggle, even as rival Walmart thrives.
The upshot is that Targets seeming capitulation to the anti-DEI wave may seem like a bellwetherwhich may be particularly disappointing to some because it feels like such a thorough reversal. But if that feeling of betrayal is fueling a backlash to the DEI backlash, there is one moretwist to consider: a growing call from Black-owned brands sold at Target, thanks to past diversity efforts, asking their customers to show support with a Target “buycott.”
In other words, those brands don’t want Target shoppers to boycott the retailer over its end of diversity efforts, but instead to shop Targetand specifically products from Black-owned brands sold at the retailer where shelf space is hard won. Target is not going to remove any of our products if they’re performing well, April Showers, founder of Afro Unicorn, told USA Today. So, we’re saying, be strategic with your dollar.”
After all, maybe the best way to prove diversity is good for business is by showing what consumers will buy, and by the bundle, not what they wont.
