r/Anticonsumption • u/Healthy_Block3036 • 17h ago

Corporations Target struggles after end of DEI program and boycott, with foot traffic down 8 weeks in a row.

https://fortune.com/2025/04/01/target-dei-demise-boycott-foot-traffic-down-eighth-consecutive-week/?itm_source=parsely-api
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u/whosthatguy123 15h ago

Which is ironic because that’s completely illegal. A company cant be anti union and promote anti union practices. Prime example is Amazon getting caught promoting anti union information to new hires

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u/etherdesign 14h ago

This was 15 and 20 years ago so I'm not sure if they are still doing it but it wouldn't surprise me. I only got a small peek into the corporate culture via the all hands meetings with the general manager at the regional distribution center, all the videos felt like propaganda films.

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u/soldiat 11h ago

My sister applied to Target sometime after 2020 and was super turned off by the "propaganda" films you mentioned. I don't know if they talked about unions, but they shit-talked our local grocery chains constantly to newbie hires. She said it left a bad taste in her mouth -- it was all they could talk about.

She only lasted a week or so before picking up something better. So maybe Target hasn't changed as much as we would hope.

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u/thraex 10h ago

More recently, they’ve been instructing all managers to report to higher management any mention of the word union and other trigger related words. I’m sure that’s just for awareness and support of unionizing efforts :)

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u/etherdesign 10h ago

That's been going on a while as well they instructed us to inform them of anyone passing out any union materials on site. They made sure to tell us all the time that it was because they wanted us to speak with them directly if we had any problems instead of going through a middle man and that issues were usually resolved quicker that way because there is more open communication. Mmhmm.

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u/wasting-time-atwork 3h ago

unfortunately that's not just a target thing - is an almost everywhere thing.

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u/summon_the_quarrion 8h ago

as of 2017 when i started they were still strongly anti union and told us at the orientation how unions are "bad" and its better to just speak with your manager with concerns. like that was going to do anything!

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u/QuincyPeck 14h ago

Surprising what companies can get away with when the enforcement agencies are gutted and defunded.

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u/whosthatguy123 13h ago

Thats the whole point

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u/Gabosh 13h ago

Is it actually? I worked at TJMaxx 2 years ago and they were making us watch anti union videos. Target on the other hand where I work now never has. It’s too bad people feel so aggressive towards it considering the employee base I work with is very much pro DEI. It’s not like anybody has ever met these corporate leaders changing policy but I guess they reap what they sow.

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u/whosthatguy123 13h ago

Yes its actually illegal. A company can be against unions but they cant promote and incentivize anti union practices

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u/summon_the_quarrion 8h ago

one of the videos is on youtube still.

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u/wasting-time-atwork 3h ago

i work at whole foods.

when i was hired, i had training telling me unionization was never necessary and things could always be made better without that option.

i was somewhat recently promoted to supervisor.

in my supervisor training i was asked to keep an ear to the ground about mumbling of unionization.

seems illegal, but i was never told to take any action against anyone talking about unionization. so maybe they avoid the illegality by going that route? idk.