Target’s quarterly sales declined for the first time in 6 years following the pride month PR disaster that cost the company nearly $14 billion in market value after just one week of boycotts.
Michael Fiddelke, Target’s CFO, addressed the impact of the store’s yearly pride collection which drew significant negative attention, stating, “Traffic and top line trends were affected by the reaction to our Pride assortment.”
Target’s second-quarter earnings report monitored a three-month period, ending on July 29, and found that the store earned 4.9% less than the year prior. The store’s Q2 report also revealed that sales dipped by 5.4% while online sales declined by 10.5%. Most notably, the company’s stock fell by 27% over the past year.
Brian Cornell, Target’s CEO since 2014, largely blamed “the impact of inflation” for the company’s decline in sales, while on a conference call discussing the Q2 report with other company executives. Christina Hennington, Target’s Chief Growth Officer, agreed with Fiddelke, and stated that “The headwinds were incremental, including the strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment.”
In the weeks leading up to June, which is nationally celebrated as “pride month,” honoring the various LBGTQ+ identities, Target began setting up its annual pride gear selection. This year’s collection was more egregious than last, which promoted the sale of chest binders to adolescent girls.
Several years ago, this section of the store was still appalling in terms of aesthetics, but a much more benign representation of the rainbow. Rainbow t-shirts, glasses, hats, and the like were available in adult sizes. This year, however, the store began selling unisex “tucking” swimwear, pride tutus for toddlers, and baby onesies reading “Just be you and feel the love.”
Not long after controversy erupted online regarding the new designs, it was revealed that one of the pride collection partners identifies as a “gay transgender man” and satanist.
“Erik, is a self-identified gay transgender man who openly talks about satan ‘respecting pronouns.’ In one of the brand’s Instagram posts, Erik wrote, ‘satan loves you and respects who you are . . . LGBTQIA+ people are so often referred to as being a product of [s]atan or going against God’s will, so fine. We’ll hand with [s]atan instead.’ Abprallen’s satanist-themed products have been sold online and at London’s Satanic Flea Market.”
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Online, several conservative shoppers agreed that the store had “gone too far” this year, and decided to partake in one of the most effective boycotts in recent memory. Target responded to the criticism by moving the pride section to the back of nearly every store location.
Despite suffering serious financial losses, Target executives continue to double down, insisting that they will be celebrating pride month in 2024. Target’s CEO Cornell said that “Pride is one of many heritage moments that are important to our guests and our team, and we’ll continue to support these moments in the future.”
He added that future pride collections will focus on “celebratory and joyous, with wide-ranging relevance,” and that Target will be “mindful of timing, placement and presentation.”
