Matt Bush, FISM News
Retail giant Target is losing about $1 billion in market capitalization per day as the company continues to face backlash over its line of pride-themed clothing for children.
According to the New York Post, a week and a half ago Target’s stock was valued at $160.96. On Friday, prior to the three-day Memorial Day weekend, the stock had dropped to $138.93 per share. That 14% drop in value translates to about $10 billion in valuation in 10 days.
Calls from conservatives to boycott the retailer began in mid-May following the release of their “pride season” collection. The collection showcased clothes and items marked with wording supporting the LBGTQ community along with the rainbow colors that have come to represent the movement.
The pride season collection at Target is generally introduced in May as “pride month” is celebrated in June. The United States Census Bureau states, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan.”
The Target website states that the company has been offering “an assortment of products aimed at celebrating pride month” for more than a decade. In the past, those pride month promotions have come and gone without a lot of fanfare and with many consumers barely noticing.
This year’s “pride season collection,” however, was different from the ones featured in years past. Many of the offerings were geared more toward children than ever before and one line promoted Satanism alongside the LGBTQ agenda.
Done with @Target.
"Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love. So, naturally, Satan respects pronouns. He loves all LGBTQIA+ people. I went with a variation of Baphomet for this design, a deity who themself is a mixture of genders, beings, ideas, and existences. They reject… pic.twitter.com/fsB4mNAQI7— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) May 21, 2023
One of the most controversial pieces was a “tuck-friendly” bathing suit that some critics say seemed to target children.
A Newsweek article defines “tuck-friendly” as “clothing items are worn by transgender women to conceal private areas if they have not undergone gender-reassignment surgery.”
The bathing suit did not come in children’s sizes but did come in an extra small with consumers saying that the displays with the controversial items were set up next to the children’s department.
With the new marketing focus aimed at offering pride month items to children, conservatives announced a boycott of Target, which has hit the bottom line of the retailer. The boycott has also caused Target to remove some of the most controversial items off the shelf.
“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work. 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. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year,” Target said in a statement.
Another interesting aspect of this story was recently reported on by Fox Business, which noted that “a Target Corporation senior executive in the marketing department maintains a position with a controversial K-12 advocacy organization called GLSEN – Target’s Pride Month partner – which is focused on integrating gender ideology at all levels of K-12 schools, from curriculum to district policy.”
Target has donated more than $2 million to GLSEN over the years.