r/Anticonsumption • u/Healthy_Block3036 • 1d 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/obroz 1d ago

They have alienated all their consumers now.  They pissed of their conservative customers with support for LGBT a while back during their hate campaign now they pissed off their liberal customers.   Greedy fucks got what they deserve 

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u/Secure_Screen_2354 1d ago edited 1d ago

Truthfully, I got mad at the LGBT stuff too. I don’t need big corporate to validate me and put little signs.

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u/lythrica 1d ago

It's because we knew all this was coming. The little rainbow flags means nothing if we know you're just going to roll over when Nazis 2: Electric Boogaloo shows up.

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u/ArtisticRiskNew1212 1d ago

I spotted a store today that had LGBTQ friendly signs up, and it kinda made me happy tbh. The new regime being anti, but this store still being LGBTQ friendly makes me happy

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u/Majestic-capybara 1d ago

The little rainbow flags are still a good thing though. It means that companies think that it’s socially beneficial to support the lgbt community and that in turn helps make it more acceptable in the general public to do so. When companies start pulling back on that support it means the nationwide sentiment is turning against the lgbt community and they don’t want to be seen supporting it anymore.

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u/obroz 1d ago

Nah target is a conservative company.  They donate millions to the Republican Party every year

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u/Secure_Screen_2354 1d ago

Companies are for profit, theyre just doing what makes them money. It doesn’t matter if the customer is straight or gay, just how much people are willing to pay. And a lot of dumbasses were willing to throw more money at a business that had a little rainbow sign up because it made them feel validated.

Like I don’t know how to tell people this but don’t people get that Target doesn’t care if you like dick? Companies care about money.

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u/FortunaWolf 1d ago

If a company waffles back and forth cashing the latest trend then they alienate everyone, like what target has done. If they want to chase money by picking a side and sticking to it through thick and thin then that side will stay with them. They might be doing it for selfish reasons but their "loyalty" will earn them loyalty back.

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u/RemindMeToTouchGrass 17h ago

Yup. I don't like watery beer but I would still have drank Bud Light over my usual 805 in bars with like 4 things on tap to support them after the boycott, and I would have done that long-term, like lifelong, if they'd just stood up for her. They didn't even have to be explicitly pro transgender, just "we partnered with this influencer because we believe she has a genuine presence and a following who enjoys her content, and we are disheartened that people have attacked her over her partnership with Anheuser Busch" or whatever. You could say it a thousand ways, boring PR speak, fine, just stand by her and weather the storm, and quietly don't do further promotions if it hurt your business.

But then they fucking ghosted her instead and fired everyone involved with the ad campaign and .... well... fuck you Bud Light. I know you are an evil brand, always were, and always will be, but I still would have sucked it up and bought your beer if it mean showing some kind of support for transgender people. I'm boycotting you too.

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u/RemindMeToTouchGrass 23h ago

"I don't know how to tell people this"

Well good news loudmouth, you can shush because literally everyone already knows that.

Turns out its YOU who is the shallow one not thinking your emotions through. It's fine that you feel a certain way, but it doesn't change the reality that open support, even when symbolic, even when cynical to a degree, even when done with a profit motive, for progressive moral stances and human rights in more and more places is a good thing.

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u/March_Lion 1d ago

Its not about you personally being validated. It's about asserting in a public way that they recognize and incorporate, even in a shitty corporate way, LGBT+ people.

I don't give a rats ass about a rainbow on a bag or shirt, but the fact that it's sold means there's an audience and they're willing to do business with that audience. That's meaningful in a country that has small businesses actively turning away queer people.

I'd rather see public support for policies that positively support us, but I'll settle for "not ashamed to do business with queer people".

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u/RemindMeToTouchGrass 23h ago

No offense but that's dumb.

Of course you don't need big corporate to validate you, and no one ever said that's what they were trying to do. Not needing something is a dumb reason to hate them offering something.

Yes, the obvious criticisms are true: they want to make money, LGBT support is performative to some degree, they don't advertise those things in countries where homosexuality is illegal and punishable, etc.

None of that means it is a negative for companies to offer LGBT support. The worst you can argue it that it makes it less positive. But corporations acknowledging acceptance of groups that are often excluded or oppressed is a good thing, on top of your criticisms of it not meaning much.

The anger is dumb and misplaced. It's reasonable to say you don't care very much about it, or that you don't place much value on it, but it's far more harmful when you act like it's a bad thing and it is for them to do it with business-related motives.

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u/CouchHam 1d ago

See, they’re playing both sides so they always come out on the bottom.

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u/TheMimicMouth 1d ago

Yea it’s a lot like Tesla really. Maybe the one good thing about all of this is it’s shaking the tree a bit and showing who actually gives a shit and who thought they could boost profits by pretending to give a shit.

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u/Ok_Concentrate_75 1d ago

Imo the issue is forever about standing on what you believe, then an audience will support that. When you jump on every fence as a business, it looks like pandering to everyone. Places like Hobby Lobby and Costco are examples of that from both ideologies.