Posted on 04/30/2016 7:34:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When retail giant Target announced their new policy of allowing anyone to use whichever bathroom they wish in their stores it was completely predictable that a firestorm was going to follow… and boy howdy, has it ever. While the SJW crowd cheered the decision, realists around the country signaled their collective displeasure with a boycott of the store spearheaded by The American Family Association. In a relatively short time, more than one million people had signed on to the protest. (Fox News)
More than one million people have decided they will no longer buy their Nutter Butters or Wet Wipes at Target.
The American Family Association launched a boycott of the nation’s second largest retailer a week ago – over Target’s corporate policy allowing men who identify as women to use the bathrooms and fitting rooms of their choosing.
“We believe that everyone – every team member, every guest, and every community – deserves to be protected from discrimination, and treated equally,” the company wrote in a statement. “Consistent with this belief, Target supports the federal Equality Act, which provides protections to LGBT individuals, and opposes action that enables discrimination.”
Is the boycott having any sort of effect in such a short period of time? These things are often hard to gauge, but in this case there seems to be a strong hint provided in the fact that the company’s stock has taken a precipitous drop during the same period. (Daily Caller)
On Friday, the shares of Target Corporation Common Stock (TGT) fell 2.52 percent in one day, according to recent reports. In addition since April 19th, the day they announced the new policy, the stock went from a share value of $84.14 to $79.27 per share. That’s a drop of 5.8 percent in 10 days.
The Family Policy institute says they estimate that to be a loss to the company of $2.5 billion dollars…
As previously reported, in addition to signing the “boycott pledge” the group is encouraging people to post on Target’s Facebook page that they are upset about the new policy.
While I’m not generally a fan of boycotts as a means of enacting political change, this one is understandable and, as I said above, predictable. I also find the focus of the protest message to be a bit off the mark as well, while understanding the concerns being raised. Opponents of this misguided policy at Target continue to stress the danger of sexual predators using the open bathroom access as an invitation to perpetrate assaults. While I suppose it’s possible, it also seems unlikely that a determined predator would allow a gender designation sign on a door stop them from pursuing their victims, and incidents of such attacks seem to be rare. These scenarios are less disconcerting than cases where women are forced to share locker rooms and showers with men, opening the door to creepy voyeurs breaking out their cell phone cameras and worse.
Running the debate immediately to these worst case scenarios overshadows the underlying argument to be made. What about the simple concept of propriety and privacy which any civilized person should accept? Women should not be forced to use the bathroom, change in a locker room or take a shower in front of a strange man. Is that really so difficult to understand or express in a public policy statement?
This isn’t the first time Target has dipped a toe into the troubled “gender identity” waters. Last summer we talked about the store’s new policy of “de-gendering” the toys and clothing aisles so as not to offend anyone. The sad part of all this is that this stupid, pointless battle (which was clearly going to affect the company’s sales no matter which way they went on it) was completely unnecessary. Just as with public, government facilities, there is a simple (if still costly) solution, assuming one believes that a solution is required. In fact San Francisco (of all places) hit on the idea very early in the national debate. If a company or public facility truly feels that they must jump into this entire “degendering” fiasco, then in addition to traditional facilities for each gender, simply add on a third, gender neutral bathroom or other facility. Then anyone going in can be informed that there is no gender requirement for occupancy and, likewise, the owner/management offers no guarantee as to the gender of the other patrons you may encounter in there. Alternately, when new facilities are constructed, put in multiple, single user facilities and just label them as “shower” or “bathroom” or “changing room.”
Problem solved. Then, if someone wants to insist that they must be allowed in public facilities with people of the opposite gender, their true agenda is exposed. (You will be made to not only care, but to participate.) This is an important aspect of the conversation which the SJW all to often succeeds in suppressing. We aren’t having a conversation here about discrimination or the suppression of anyone else’s rights. Dress however you wish. And for that matter, the vast majority of us aren’t going to care one way or the other what you call yourself despite the obvious denial of basic genetics and science on display. The real motivation of the SJW is to force such twisted claims on everyone else and mandate their participation even when it comes at the expense of the rights of the majority.
I am going to try to explain this one more time.
Unless you simultaneously consider that in the 2 or so weeks the boycott has been going on and those 1/x MM people signed that petition, “Target” and “Target Stores” received hundreds and hundreds of mentions across virtually all media, a thing known as advertising they pay millions and millions of dollars for. So. 300 million people heard Target Target Target and of those let’s say 10% have wallets and purses and spend money. Each of those impressions is an exposure, the precise, exact thing that advertisers pay tens of millions of dollars for. It does not matter whether those impressions are in a neg or pos light. Look at the chart of Target stock, the public completely and totally forgave Target for the credit card breach, theirs being the MOST NOTORIOUS and theirs being perhaps the paradigm event in the so many that have occurred since that time. Additionally, Target paid tens of millions of dollars in penalties. So that event, which DID PRODUCE real harm and MANY folks reported frauds on their CCs....did roughly nothing.
JCP is utterly different. I for one have never found their mdse to be of any desirable quality and rarely shopped there. They have located themselves in mediumish or sub-medium malls generally now considered to be less attractive and convenient places to shop, if not becoming hangouts for poorly behaved teenagers and worse. And which, with Amazon completing the picture, are likely headed in a negative direction. And their mgmt flipped around through several different sales strategies.
If you don’t want to shop TGT, don’t. My single, specific, well exampled point is that the people who think their two week old boycott whose impact or lack of impact has not even made it to TGTs internal monthly sales figures on a day when the entire market suffered its worst loss in 2 months and hit many, many stocks far more than TGT, are just being naive. They never, ever consider that the publicity generated by their boycott has every possibility of INCREASING the advertising exposure of some retailer like Target.
Penny’s went from a high of around $89 to the $9.
I don’t think at all that they thought it was populous.
It was way more of a FU to decent people.
Better sell before it hits $9 like Penny’s.
I’m effectively >short< the stock, my bet IS for it to fall. $9 would be a spectacular win.
Barring a complete market meltdown, I expect nothing much beyond ~~$69-70.
Your top 20 reminds me a little of the global warming story yesterday. It said that 300 people had died in the last month in India, a nation with 1.3 Billion people because the weather was warmer than normal. It could be true, but 57,000 people also died in India last month from diarrhea. 300 people probably died in India from falling over when they were trying to tie their shoe.
I doubt whether any of the crimes you mentioned have much if anything to do with Target’s corporate policies. There are perverts and criminals everywhere these days; you are not completely safe anywhere.
It isn't my Top 20.
It is a summary of an article that was posted earlier on F.R.
I posted it with the intent of adding a little more detail to this thread.
I also posted a link to the original story which provides even more detail..
Like everything else, it is only a snapshot.
How the reader evaluates it or uses it is up to the individual.
I didn’t mean any disrespect. I just do not think that retail establishments have any more control over those who come through their days any more than political campaigns have control over those who show up to protest them.
LOL this is biting them pretty hard. Good
I think over time it goes way lower.
Nobody is being badgered to worship. No one is supporting Puritan-style laws commanding church attendance.
But most Americans say they are Christians. This is a Judeo-Christian founded country. If we give up “Christian” for “public decency”, it gets watered down to nothing.
” Doesn’t matter about boycotts if they work or not, it’s still a missed sale.”
You don’t need an MBA From Harvard BS to figure out how stupid the Target executives are. Just broom the SOB’s and hire a few with some street brains : )
Target shares have hardly “plummeted.” Believe me, I have owned stocks that have plummeted! That said, the share price is on the decline and I just sold my very modest position after seeing Target’s odious CEO on TV proudly defend his company’s “inclusive” and “welcoming” policy. He will be receiving a copy of my order confirmation with a cordial but firm note advising him of my decision and as well as our decision as a family of six not to patronize his loony bin stores.
You don’t need an MBA From Harvard BS to figure out how stupid the Target executives are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.