Target loses $9B in week following boycott calls over LGBTQ-friendly kids clothing

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Ariel Zilber - New York Post




Target has lost $9 billion in market value since angry social media users called for a boycott of the Minneapolis-based retailer over its rollout of the “PRIDE” collection featuring LGBTQ-friendly clothing for children.

A week ago Wednesday before the controversy erupted, Target’s stock closed at $160.96 a share, giving the big-box chain a market capitalization of $74.3 billion.

As of early trading on Thursday, however, shares of the company were trading off 1% at $141.76 — capping a weeklong tumble that has shrunk the “cheap chic” discount retailer’s value to $65.3 billion.

That amounts to a 12% drop that has shaved a whopping $9 billion off the company’s market capitalization.

Target said on Tuesday it was removing some items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month after intense backlash from some customers who confronted workers and tipped over displays.

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said in a statement on Tuesday.

“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.”

Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers, and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores.

That was just days after Target CEO Brian Cornell had defended the LBGTQ-friendly merchandise, saying it was “the right thing for society.”

Target declined to specify Wednesday which items it was removing but among the ones that garnered the most attention were “tuck-friendly” women’s swimsuits that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts.

Designs by Abprallen, a London-based company that designs and sells occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories, have also created a backlash.

The Pride merchandise has been on sale since early May.

Pride month is held in June.

Target confirmed that it has moved its Pride merchandise from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern stores after confrontations and backlash from shoppers in those areas.





Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren said on Tuesday that Target is about to see its business suffer in the same way that Bud Light did.

“I think that Target really soon is about to find out what happens when conservatives shop or rather don’t shop, because they are about to get Bud Light-ed,” Lahren told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday.

Bud Light has seen its sales drop for some six consecutive weeks — down 25% versus a year ago in the most recent week — since boycott calls erupted in response to its controversial marketing campaign with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

[lost in melb.]

Since when did lbt whatever own the rainbow??

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Since when did lbt whatever own the rainbow??

[lost in melb.]

I'm serious. They own the rainbow and anything to do with the rainbow is associated with them.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Suzanne O'Halloran, FOX Business Team




There is more trouble for Target shareholders who continue to bear the brunt of the Pride merchandising controversy, which erupted earlier this month.

Shares fell another 3.66% Tuesday, marking the eighth straight decline and lopping off another $2.4 billion in market cap, as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group.

Since the backlash, Target's market value has fallen over $12 billion to $61.77 billion as of Tuesday's closing price. Mid-month the market value was over $74 billion.

It put the stock on its longest losing streak since November 2018, leaving shares at a fresh 52-week low of $133.88 per share.

The retailer, which has supported LGBTQ Pride for years, this season offered merchandise that included female-style swimsuits that have the option to "tuck" male genitalia. Other products were labeled as "Thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions," a "Gender Fluid" mug and a variety of adult clothing with slogans such as "Super Queer" among other items.

As first reported by Fox News Digital last week, customers pushed back in certain stores, forcing the retailer to make rapid changes.

"For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month," a company spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "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."

Separately, the retailer's Gay Pride collection has been linked to controversial designer Erik Carnell of Abprallen, who is an outspoken Satanist whose brand features occult imagery and messages like "Satan respects pronouns" on brand apparel, Fox News Digital reported.

He is also known for aggressive messaging and phrases, including "Burn down the cis-tem," which have been featured on the website, along with one that says "homophobe headrest" with an image of a guillotine.

More recently, Fox News reported Target partners with a K-12 education group that focuses on getting districts to adopt policies that will keep parents in the dark about their child's in-school gender transition, providing sexually explicit books to schools for free and integrating gender ideology at all levels of curriculum in public schools.

The organization, GLSEN, has received at least $2.1 million in donations from Target, which offers districts and students guidance on how to hide gender transitions from parents.

"GLSEN leads the movement in creating affirming ... and anti-racist spaces for LGBTQIA+ students. We are proud of 10+ years of collaboration with GLSEN and continue to support their mission," Target said.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Should have seen this coming and shorted Target

[PorkChopSandwiches]

There is still time

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Charles Creitz | Fox News




Corporate boards long tasked with fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders are scrutinizing how Target allowed itself to become embroiled in social scandal big enough to cause a nearly $15 billion loss in market cap, "Shark Tank" star investor Kevin O'Leary told Fox News on Monday.

Since the backlash over its Pride merchandising controversy, Target's market value has fallen over $13 billion to $60.24 billion as of Monday's closing price. O'Leary, head of O'Leary Ventures, said the future is likely to bring a complete change in how corporate America approaches certain concerns like the processes that led to Target's "unprecedented" cliff-dive.

"On one hand, companies want to show their support of diversity in all the mandates that society is discussing openly," he said on "Jesse Watters Primetime." On the other hand, the job of a business -- particularly from the perspective of an investor -- and those that are retired, for example, that own the S&P 500 or own Target stock – are concerned that maybe they're losing their way in terms of what the prime objective is: your customers, your employees, and your shareholders."

"And so if you start to get too distant or too far away from the primary mandate, the market has proven itself to really, really punish you. And it's woken up all kinds of boards," O'Leary stressed.

The Minneapolis-based big-box retailer waded into controversial waters recently as its "tuck-friendly" swimwear geared toward the transgender community led to nationwide outrage.

That fallout was compounded by a Fox News Digital investigation that found its nonprofit foundation – directed by its senior corporate treasurers – funded an entity seeking to cede United States territory including Mount Rushmore, over claims it is a symbol of White supremacy, and sought to demilitarize the armed forces due to concerns of its "violen[ce]."

O'Leary suggested much of the furor was intensified by how fast the news of Target's behavior spread on social media – adding that many corporate boards don't always take into account the power of viral word-of-mouth.

"When you can't control the message anymore through social media, which is clearly obvious, you better figure out what message you're putting out before it ever gets out there," he said.



"We almost need a new committee on boards. We have committees for risk… compensation -- We've got compliance committees. We need a communications/media committee to advise the rest of the board who don't even have Twitter accounts or don't have Facebook or don't use LinkedIn."

O'Leary said many boards still don't understand the "risks inherent" of what they're doing in an age of instantaneous social media communication.

He pointed to Anheuser-Busch, which he noted built Bud Light to be America's top-selling beer in its category over decades, only to see the brand destroyed in "32 hours" after it partnered with transgender socialite Dylan Mulvaney.

O'Leary concluded that diversity officers will continue to be part of corporate boards, and that the issue is what they are doing with their power and their appropriations.

"I don't think you're going to find a lot of people saying, 'oh, let's not have diversity officers'. I think that boat sailed. But what they do with their budgets now really matter and the risks they're putting the company into because of the power of uncontrolled social media is obviously measurable," he said.

"When you lose $11 billion of market cap, there're a lot of unhappy cowboys out there. They're called your investors."

He speculated that Target CEO Brian Cornell had no idea about the anti-Mount Rushmore appropriation.

Shortly before O'Leary's comments, Elon Musk publicly predicted class-action lawsuits by Target shareholders, in response to a report by conservative commentator Charlie Kirk that JPMorgan just downgraded the company's stock.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

[lost in melb.]

Is there any evidence the share decline is caused by the 'backlash' and not just part of the long slide since 2018?

Zero is mentioned about drop in sales at Target, and there is no quantification whatsoever of the so-called "backlash". Wonder if this story is a beat-up.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Kristine Parks | Fox News




More than 200 LGBTQ groups angered by Target's decision to pull Pride merchandise from shelves are demanding the company "denounce extremists" and restock all the Pride merchandise in stores and online.

The Human Rights Campaign, along with GLAAD, GLSEN and other groups, released a statement asking Target and other businesses like Anheuser-Busch to "reject and speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ extremism going into Pride Month." More than 200 other progressive and LGBTQ organizations signed on to the statement, which argued that showing support for their community was good for business.

The organizations laid out a three-part demand that calls on Target to restock all the Pride merchandise both in stores and online, ensure the safety of Target employees and release a statement "reaffirming their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community" within 24 hours.

"When it comes to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, there is no such thing as neutrality," the LGTBQ coalition said.

The coalition suggested they would continue to support Target and other businesses who rejected criticism from consumers.

"Target, and all businesses, can leverage the support of LGBTQ+ organizations to navigate this hate, so that together, we can let extremists know unequivocally that, just as with every other failed anti-LGBTQ+ campaign of the past, fear will not win," the statement reads.

Target displays LGBTQ-themed apparel annually leading into June. However, the retail giant came under increased scrutiny after consumers noticed stores selling "tuck-friendly" women's bathing suits for transgender people and Pride apparel for children and infants.

The company responded to widespread backlash over the Pride merchandise by moving some Pride products to less prominent sections of the store and removing other merchandise altogether. Target said it moved the products to ensure employees' safety.

The move angered progressives and LGBTQ groups who said Target had "caved to violent political extremists" and "betrayed" LGTBQ customers.

Several of the designers who partnered with the company spoke to the media about their disappointment in the company not standing by their products when faced with backlash.

"It's a very dangerous precedent to set, that if people just get riled up enough about the products that you're selling, you can completely distance yourself from the LGBT community, when and if it's convenient," Abprallen designer Erik Carnell told Reuters.

Another designer for the Pride collection said Target had removed most of their collection from stores "due to threats from domestic terrorists."

Target has only released one public statement on the controversy so far.

"For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month. 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," the company said in a release on May 24.

That same day, Target CEO Brian Cornell defended the company's decision in a letter to employees while expressing support for the LGBTQ community.

Target did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

[DemonGeminiX]

Those groups should open their own retail stores and see how the free market works instead of demanding a retailer do what they say when that retailer is responding to free market pressures.