We used to spend a good amount of money at Target and now we won’t go anywhere near it. It was great for gift shopping and seasonal stuff but we’ve figured out better options with retailers that don’t have gross values.
So where did you shift your buying to? Hopefully not Walmart or Amazon, who are far worse. Small businesses are not available options in most of America.
Costco.
15 years ago Target specialized in creating a shopping experience where the consumer could discover trendy, fun, useful items that they couldn’t find in other similar retailers. Today it’s all the same merchandise you could find anywhere and there’s no value proposition to shop at Target.
And just like every retailer, they’ve vertically integrated their supply chain so that they can shove their bullshit brands at you
Ah yes, Target.
When you think you are too good to go to Wal-Mart, and want to pay 2x-4x the price of price for the same exact stuff.
Lots of overlap with Canadian Tire in that respect
Boycotts work. The naysayers are wrong once again.
Love to see it. 💕
I went to Target during my errands just to use their bathroom, and was shocked at how empty it was. I was reminded of KMart when they started to die.
i used to love going to kmart back then. close parking. easy in-and-out. no lines and no big crowds, not even friday after thanksgiving or christmas eve.
in certain areas, almost everything is locked up. this actually made less likely to purchase items.
Good.
Every company/university that’s dropped DEI has done so under political terrorism. NOT ONE has said it cost them money, was ineffective, inefficient, a waste of resources, “didn’t align with their values” or any other scapegoat reasoning.
I’m not letting them off the hook, though. They were still cowards for giving in to the political pressure, and I’m glad they’re having regrets.
mainly because of vindictiveness of the trump administration.
I disagree that they’ve all done it under political duress. I think many of these companies have used the political environment to be shitty, and drop something they didn’t want to support.
I think it’s just like Republicans over the past 12+ years. Once Trump came along and normalized hate speech, it’s empowered other wastes-of-oxygen to do the same. They’ve always been racists and bigots, but now it’s acceptable to do it publicly. I try to do my part by calling it out when I can. Silence is complacency, so I’m all in on name and shame in the moment.
It’s not that there wasn’t any political pressure. It’s that the slightest bit of pressure caused them to pull the plug swiftly.
I think the companies who were led by people personally antagonistic to DEI already weren’t doing it. They started it when the political winds were in favor of DEI, found that it did something beneficial for them that was worth the investment (ultimately, increasing profits, probably through PR) and reaped what they could. But the slightest headwinds caused them to drop it, for lack of confidence it would be worth the continued investment. For others, it was beneficial enough this pressure didn’t change their decisions.
None of this is likely coming from company leaders caring about DEI for some sort of principled reason, just companies who care about only one thing, reassessing the value of DEI in terms of that one thing, $ return on spend. This is a group who needs subtler treatment than the anti-DEI crowd, this is fair weather friends who don’t care. What little we can do is reward those who don’t give in to the slightest push.
I’m surprised if the boycott is having any effect since I’ve hardly heard anything about it since it started. Target around here is somewhat useful though I haven’t gone there since pre-boycott. Also when I’ve gone, I’ve often taken parking lot delivery, which might not count as foot traffic.
I mean foot traffic being down for eight weeks in a row and then struggling financially is pretty much proof it’s working, right? We knew we wouldn’t bankrupt them in a few minutes, we’re trying to get their attention.
Also - as far as the reason you’ve not heard much about it, corporate media doesn’t wanna show people the power they have. It’s simple.
I know there are two events, 1) boycott and 2) foot traffic down. I’m not at all convinced that the two are related more than slightly. Foot traffic down = people are broke and/or more frugal because of Trump, maybe. I’d like to know how foot traffic has been for retail in general.
Is it the boycott or just Trumpflation?
Porque no los dos
Puede ser
Just goes to show how bending the knee to the bigot brigade doesn’t work. Are more of the fat orange traitorous fuck’s cult shopping there?
No.
Target did exactly what they wanted- first by hiding their Pride merch last June, and then by eliminating their diversity programs- and the only result is the people who didn’t shop at Target still aren’t, but the people who did shop there are taking their business elsewhere.
Soon Target’s going to have to either try to reverse course to save face with their former clientele, or they’re gonna have to double down in an effort to attract more MAGAts to their rotting corporate corpse. And as InBev learned with Dylan Mulvaney, that’s not a decision you want to fuck up
they should learn the lesson from appeasing hitler with sudetlands.
Hey, I’m Czech and I do not want Target to own our borders!
It’s more than that. The right wing dollar doesn’t come back. They use bud light as an insult still. The queer community will be marketed to if you do right by us. Break that trust and it can be earned back. The right wing community will instead declare your product their anathema.
InBev stock is up 1.6% over the last year. If you’d bought stocks this January, you would have made about 30% profit.
InBev is doing fine, because they own over 600 brands globally.
Bud Light sales however are not doing fine. Its sales are down about 40% compared to pre-2023 levels, and has dropped from most-popular to third most popular beer. They pissed off the no-taste mouthbreathing MAGAts who were their primary customers by mailing Dylan one fucking can, and then pissed off everyone else when they threw Dylan under the bus immediately because the MAGAts started all bleating about it.
Target is now literally in that same position.
So the boycott was pointless, as indicated. I also saw people saying they were going to boycott InBev, and they clearly had an impact for some period of time, along with the Bud Light boycotters, yet here we are. Also, you mentioned InBev, not Bud Light.
My dude, it sounds like you’re being needlessly accusative.
I never said InBev was in trouble; I said they fucked up their response to the Dylan Mulvaney backlash. Which they absolutely did, and it caused their most popular American beer brand to lose sales.
A lot of people at the time were (correctly) pointing out that most of the beers the MAGAts decided to switch to in their performative protests were also owned by InBev.
Haven’t bought from Target since Feb 9. They used to be a store I bought from multiple times per week. I bought from them specifically because I didn’t agree with Walmart or their ethics, and Target — allegedly, I guess — was the opposite. A supporter of the community and social causes. Until it was convenient for Target to not do so anymore.
I have moved to other stores that have a backbone and stand up for their whole community and all of their employees.
Fuck that company. I hope they burn.
The fact that you thought target was ever the opposite of Walmart in ethics demonstrates you were never paying attention in the first place
Whereas all corporations are fundamentally concerned with the bottom line, you should shop at those whose actions are ostensibly less evil. Even if Target’s commitment to these issues in the past was merely performative, that performance should be rewarded.
Perhaps I was naïve and it was always skin deep and Walmart just didn’t care to hide it, it’s possible. But there was a time when yes, I did think Target was a better supporter of its customers social causes. Every company is just a company, after all, but the pendulum going from “we sell pride merch!” to “what’s diversity?” was particularly jarring for me, and evidently I’m not alone in that feeling.
It was publicly anti union. They never cared about social causes. They paid workers squat all–diversity in worker suppression.
Caring only that there’s a diverse lower class catering to your needs is not actually caring in the first place.
Judging anyone by your own personal standards isn’t community.
If you wanna be part of the solution, stop being part of the (judgmental) problem.
I’m a union rep, I’m already part of the solution … Doesn’t mean I can’t still talk shit . I just already boycotted consumerism years ago
I was just at a Costco over this and tbh, I fucking hate all these stores and it’s a shame because at least Target around here was the most tolerable of the big box options, at least before they put everything behind glass with no personnel to open it.
What was it like in the before times, before the Walmarts and Targets of the world took over?
When a Ma and a Pa fell in love, they coupled in a steamy limited liability relationship. Then they made love—back then we called it “making love”—and three fiscal quarters later, they would welcome a newborn shoppe into the world. Then everyone watched PBS and went to bed without locking their doors.
I remember when department stores ruled, and had actual pull. The “right” store could anchor your plaza/mall and they could demand aot. One of the oldest, but fun ones, was Service Merchandise. Even within the store you found what you wanted and filled out a ticket and brought it to a counter, your item would then come out of the warehouse on a conveyor belt which as a kid was like magic lol. Also going to a Kmart or similar store and putting that “must have” item on layaway was also cool.
This place was the cats pajamas!
40 days should be indefinitely until management changes. As in those who “kissed the ring” must leave.
Yes im pissed at Target but if alll the extra sales are going to Walmart, that’s worse.
Costco has increased foot traffic for 13 consecutive weeks, so not a bad guess people are going there.
You should be shopping at Costco by default anyway. They are awesome. There are a ton of membership benefits beyond just shopping at the warehouse! (Costco Next, HVAC deals, auto financing, etc). You can sometimes pay for your entire membership with one transaction.
Unfortunately Costco is just as shitty as all the rest of the huge american corporations. They’re just better at PR than most of the others.
the current president is shitty, but the founder isnt, the current ceo is the reason behind some of the costcos decline in certain items. i suspect the new ceo is behind all this.
Makes sense, though I suppose there are riskier bets than accusing the person in charge of being the one responsible.
Costco is the shiniest turd in the shit basket of mega grocery corporations. If I have to pick one, Im picking the best of the worst.
I’ve certainly seen worse rationalizations, cheers.
Costco also treat workers better.
Ain’t got no Costco to go to personally. I go to a regional chain, but I am suspicious of the prices sometimes (why are the 12 packs of sodas often on sale for 14.88?)
Not to be a corporate defender but there is a methodology to the cents on prices charged by Costco. They correspond to various statuses. You can look it up but I highly doubt it’s a conspiracy to signal white supremacy lol.
I was talking about the prices at the regional chain I go to, not at Costco.
I do the same but try to hit up Aldi instead of the regional brand. I know the regional brand has shitty practices regarding unions but sometimes I want name-brand products or things that Aldi just doesn’t carry due to their smaller footprint
I’m two hours from a Costco here in TN. I had a membership when I lived in Philly and loved it.
Looks like its down slightly too.
TBF, Target largely brought this on themselves before the DEI stuff. They’re more expensive here than a proper dept store, and everything is locked in plastic and takes forever to get.
Can’t boycott what I already wasn’t using.
You were just ahead of the boycott curve!
Is the goal general harm, or directed harm that may have a positive result? If Target changes course and takes a moral stand (even if that decision isn’t made for all the right reasons), that’s worth more than hurting Target and Walmart equally.
I get that. And I hope that Target changes before it’s too late and you are correct.
Nope both are being protested against.
The “Target experience” for me has always been “find product, wait 30 minutes for a cashier”. Couldn’t pay me to shop there anymore. Such a hostile environment.
