Posted on 05/24/2023 8:32:11 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Target is scrambling to try to deal with the uproar over its moves to promote LGBTQ clothing and products for kids, including books for children aged# 2-8 titled “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3,” and “I’m Not a Girl.” The store got a lot of outrage for targeting children. Outraged shoppers also complained about swimsuits offering “tuck-friendly” and “extra crotch coverage” in the children’s section. The company claims those are adult swimsuits, not directed toward children.
Target @Target in damage control mode to avoid another go woke go broke “Bud Light” boycott disaster. Is it too little too late?#tuckfriendly #TargetGroomers #TargetGoWokeGoBroke pic.twitter.com/N7x5x7Af8x
— • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ ™ • (@4Mischief) May 24, 2023
As we noted, Target held an emergency meeting to try to deal with the backlash and they’re now saying they are removing items that have caused the most furor. They are likely hoping to quell any backlash before it gets to Bud Light levels.
But their CEO, Brian Cornell, is not helping matters with his remarks, which seem to be digging in on the “wokeness.” His comments sound a lot like those of Bud Light’s former Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid who said they wanted to “diversify,” without considering who their customers were. That didn’t work out well for Bud Light or Heinerscheid’s job. The Target CEO claims that toadying to the woke is “adding value” to the company.
“I think those are just good business decisions, and it’s the right thing for society, and it’s the great thing for our brand,” Cornell said.
The executive, whose company employs more than 450,000 workers in more than 1,900 locations nationwide, said that the company’s strategy is aimed to cater to a diversifying customer base.
“The things we’ve done from a DE&I [diversity, equity, and inclusion] standpoint, it’s adding value,” Cornell said.
“It’s helping us drive sales, it’s building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for our business today.”
Cornell even claimed, “I know that focus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years.”
I’m guessing, though, that the backlash that they are currently feeling is not a great boon to their sales, and they’ve already seen how embracing this same problem has continued to tank Bud Light. Add promoting to children, and that underscores Target’s seeming effort to one-up Bud Light with truly bad moves. As with Bud Light, a lot of Middle America are customers at Target and those are the people infuriated, calling for a boycott right now. You can even see “#BoycottTarget” and “GoWokeGoBroke” are now trending on Twitter with over eighty thousand tweets about the situation. (Click the tweets to expand them.)
— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) May 24, 2023
#GoWokeGoBroke pic.twitter.com/Ir6pHQ7kko— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) May 24, 2023
So why is this guy digging in his heels over this? What he’s saying is only going to make people want to ramp up the boycott more. The reason is the ESG score. To them, their ESG score is more important than their sales — more important even than the bottom line.
Target’s 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report is here! Learn more about the progress we’re making toward our sustainability goals: https://t.co/xNvfes0jWx pic.twitter.com/JLYAfgxfVR
— Target News (@TargetNews) July 28, 2022
That’s why some of these companies might continue on this track, even when it doesn’t make any sense at all to their bottom line.
But now that Target has moved some of this stuff to the back of the store, that’s likely going to antagonize people on the left. So Target, just like Bud Light, is about to get squeezed from both ends with this bad move.
Target, do you think you can force me and others to buy products in your stores by placing this type of merchandise there? Can anyone from Target answer? Thanks.
The thing about this crap is it’s all for show. If they had just quietly put some swimsuits like this on a rack next to other swimsuits no one would have likely noticed but oh no.. have to put some big display in the front of the store where everyone has to see it.. when 99.99999% of customers have no desire to have that crap in their face..
Because this crap isn’t about inclusion it’s about pandering
Target is woke. Their customers are woke. MAGA Republicans shop at Walmart instead.
I will not shop at TARGAY anymore.
21- Target’s ranking among Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies of 2023
You’re exactly right. How important is this ESG score to their financing and other day to day operations?
Target claims their decision to pull some of the most egregious “Pride” products was based on “threats” to their sales associates. Not a smart move to blame your customers rather than admit their pride crap was patently offensive. Target will see sales tank just like Bud Lite.
Yes it’s not an accident that the PRIDE Display is huge, and right in the front where you can’t miss it... It’s not put there because its going to increase any revenues or sales.. It could be put in some back aisle or less prominent place and sales of the crap wouldn’t change that much....
It’s deliberately put there to PANDER, it’s basically virtue signaling using retail floorspace. Oh look how “enlightened” we are.
Sure in a Wal Mart near the Castro District or something such an up front display would make sense... just like when you go to a walmart near a beach you have a few aisles right near the entrance all prominently displaying swimming and beach items. However if you go to a wal mart say in Kansas, nowhere near a lake or water, many of those items are available in the store, but are back in the sporting goods, or other areas, not right by the entrance.
This is put RIGHT UP FRONT CORPORATE WIDE, not because its going to be a huge seller at every store, because it won’t be.. but to pander.
If Target wants to offend millions of its customers, that’s up to them. Maybe Brian Cornell needs to reach for a Bud Light and think about his decision.
They are certainly ‘Targeting’ their customers. Let the Woke, LBGTQer’s be their sole source of revenues since they cater (or kowtow) to them.
Will Target be next with its in our/your face ~ Woke B$?
Anheuser-Busch has lost a staggering $15.7 BILLION in value since Bud Light controversy began - as rivals add $3.2b to their value and experts warn of beer SHORTAGE
Daily Mail UK ^ | May 24, 2023 | Emma James
Posted on 5/24/2023, 9:57:21 PM by Morgana
Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has seen its market value plunge $15.7billion since the disastrous campaign with transgender-influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Since April 1, the company has consistently been dropping down the rankings, with experts saying it ‘just keeps getting a little worse each week’.
But their competitors have added $3.2billion in market value to their brands in the same time.
Molson Coors, which owns Coors Lite, has seen an increase of $2.2billion market value, around 20 percent, while Heineken has a spike of $1billion – an increase of 1.7 percent.
Sales of Bud Light are down more than 23 percent as of the week ending May 6, according to JPMorgan beverage analyst Jared Dinges.
He said the bank expects a 12 to 13 percent volume decline over the course of a year in the US.
‘We believe there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future,’ the analysts said on Tuesday.
He added: ‘Shares have underperformed EU Beer peers by 15% since the start of April.
‘We believe this is due to U.S. uncertainty, as investor focus has shifted squarely to the potential impact from the Bud Light controversy.’
The expected decline in earnings, before interest and tax, will follow a 12 percent drop in volume and a 10 percent decline in sales.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk …
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