Target Corporation (TGT) knew this was a no win situation.
Last month, top executives wrestled with the prospect of pulling some merchandise from its LGBQT+ Pride collection, which had attracted the ire of right wing activists.
Doing so might lower the temperature of the country’s intractable culture wars that were getting hotter by the second. The retailer had also received threats from extremists and was worried about the safety of its employees and customers.
However, removing the products would alienate a loyal customer group in the LGBQT+ community. And might embolden its right wing critics while doing nothing to cool the inflammatory rhetoric.
Target ultimately pulled the products. And as we hit the halfway point of Pride month, the results are in: the company made the wrong call.
Shares Unexpectedly Plummeted
The first sign things went awry was probably something Target never anticipated: Target shares started to sharply decline. From May 24, when the company disclosed its decision, to earlier this week, the stock dropped around 10% to $128.72 per share, a 52-week low.
Right wing critics, cheered on by Fox Business News, claimed Target’s “woke” policies cost investors lots of money. Elon Musk even suggested shareholders should sue the company.
In reality, several major analysts had cut their rating on Target, predicting inflation would prompt consumers to dramatically reduce spending on apparel, accessories, and home goods, the retailer’s key product categories. Target’s stock has recovered but the perception that right wing outrage hurt Target’s pocketbook is now ensconced in the public’s mind.
At the same time, progressives accused the retailer of caving into right wing threats. And members of the LGBQT+ community, including prized designers, urged a boycott and insisted they would never shop at the retailer or work with Target again.
Target Faced Bomb Threats
Meanwhile, Target continues to face threats of violence. In recent weeks, people have emailed local news stations in Oklahoma, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Louisiana, Ohio, Utah and Pennsylvania about having placed bombs in stores. In some of those cases, the senders reportedly claimed they were angry over Target’s betrayal of LGBQT+ community.
“The safety of our team members and guests is our top priority,” a Target spokesperson said in an email. “Law enforcement investigated these claims and determined our stores are safe. Our stores are currently open and operating regular hours.”
So in trying to please everyone, Target pleased no one. The company committed perhaps the worst sin when faced with a difficult choice: it went wishy-washy.
Removing just a few brands was not going to solve anything: either the retailer should have pulled the entire collection or kept all of the merchandise on the shelves. After all, Target gets threats every year for its Pride products and no one really knows what made this particular period any different.
Should Target’s 2,000 stores across the country experience zero serious incidents for the rest of the month, the company will probably claim, at least internally, that its semi-censorship protected employees and customers.
But in reality, there’s no way to know that. There’s an equal chance that employees and customers would have been fine without removing the merchandise and the company would have preserved its reputation.
