Less than a week after Target’s CEO touted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as a boost to business, the company said it will remove some LGBTQ+ merchandise from its Pride Month collection because of a backlash that threatened workers’ safety.
“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,” she said.
Just last week, Target CEO Brian Cornell touted his company’s efforts regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. Initiatives in that area have “fueled much of our growth over the last nine years” and “added value,” he told Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast.
Target’s decision to pull back was smart, said Americus Reed, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
“The worst thing that could happen in a retail environment is to feel like you can’t go in there and feel safe — that’s on the employee side and the customer sides,” Reed said.
Target’s website features hundreds of colorful Pride products, including rainbow shirts for men, pint glasses embellished with “Cheers Queers” and a children’s book about pronouns, among others.
The company did not specify which items were being removed, but misinformation in recent days has centered on its children’s bathing suits that were falsely labeled as “tuck-friendly” by prominent conservative groups and media outlets. The tuck-friendly swimming suits were only for adults, the Associated Press reported. Tuck-friendly swimwear offers extra coverage to allow transgender women without gender-affirming operations to conceal their genitalia.
Some conservatives have also called for a boycott of Target over its partnership with the U.K.-based brand Abprallen, which they claim features Satanist designs. Some of the Abprallen pieces that Target was selling include a sweatshirt featuring an image of a snake with the line, “Cure transphobia, not trans people,” as well as a messenger bag that reads, “We belong everywhere.”
An earlier Instagram post from the designer flagged by conservative media groups reads: “Satan respects pronouns.” The caption explains that Satanists do not believe in Satan but invoke Satan as a symbol of passion and pride.
The contested products will be removed from all of Target’s U.S. stores and its website, Reuters reported, adding that while other items were under review, only Abprallen merchandise had been removed.
“Being true to yourself and your community is something to celebrate, all year long,” the Pride section on the company’s website says, inviting customers to post their Target finds with the hashtag #TakePride.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and chief executive of LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD, called out Target’s leadership for caving “to fringe activists calling for censorship.”
“Anti-LGBTQ violence and hate should not be winning in America, but it will continue to until corporate leaders step up as heroes for their LGBTQ employees and consumers,” Ellis said in a statement. She added that the backlash against Target from a “small group of extremists … should be a wake-up call for consumers and is a reminder that LGBTQ people, venues, and events are being attacked with threats and violence like never before.”
On Twitter, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused Cornell of “selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists.” Target’s decision, Newsom added, is emblematic of “a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country,” which he warned does not stop at Pride merchandise.
Marketing campaigns that focus on a social issue can be risky for companies, Wharton’s Reed said. “You either have to go all in or don’t bother,” he said.
In April, Bud Light beer faced similar backlash and a drop in sales following calls for a boycott from Republicans over its partnership with transgender actress and comedian Dylan Mulvaney, leading the company’s CEO to issue a note.
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” Brendan Whitworth wrote at the time in an open letter on the company’s Twitter account.
While trans issues have taken center stage in the culture wars upending U.S. politics, conservatives have also targeted companies over other hot-button issues, including abortion and gun control.
When Walgreens this year announced its intention to dispense abortion medication in its retail stores, Republican attorneys general banded together to threaten legal action, prompting the company to rescind its decision in red states.
In March, Visa and Mastercard put on hold a decision to categorize purchases at gun stores after a similar move by Republican-controlled states.
Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said he expects more brands will steer clear of controversial issues.
“When you have issues where there are strong feelings on both sides, and it’s not directly related to your business or brand, there you will see brands try to be very careful,” Calkins said.
