Shoppers are gearing up to slap targets in a 40-day boycott against DEI policy reversal on Wednesday.
It's a triple wamy for retailers as they are troubled by low spending and are prepared for the potential for increased costs under President Trump's tariffs.
“We are asking people to sell from Target as they turned their backs on our community,” said Pastor Jamal Bryant, a megachurch pastor in the Atlanta area. He told CNN he started a boycott..
However, the founder of the black-owned business pushed back the boycott and urged shoppers to fill their carts with targets. It warns that consumer protests can actually cause serious damage to black people and a few brands.
“I get it, but a lot of us will be affected and our sales will go down,” said actress Tabitha Brown, who sells kitchenware at Target. Videos posted on Instagram January. “Our business hurts. If anyone knows the business, it just allows you to get everything and pull it off the shelf and not just happen overnight.”
The boycott, which began on the first day of Lent, has been more than a month since the target completed its DEI target. This includes programs focused on transporting more products from black and minority-owned businesses.
This is a sharp reversal of the Minneapolis-based discount chain, selling particularly progressive images over the years. In 2023, they faced a severe backlash when they launched their LGBTQ Pride Collection, which includes children's clothing.
In January, Trump quickly signed an executive order banning DEI policies across the federal level, calling for private companies to terminate their own programs.
Wall Street banks, including tech giants like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Meta and Amazon, as well as target rival Walmart, have cut controversial targets from their annual filings and websites.
However, no company has been more angry with customers than Target in the wake of George Floyd's murder and subsequent Black Live Matter protests in 2020.
“Black people spend more than $12 million a day, so they'll expect loyalty, some decency and some friendship,” Bryant told CNN.
Some critics have called on shoppers to avoid target stores and instead to purchase products directly from black branded websites.
However, the business owner said this could still be damaging as the Target website and nearly 2,000 stores provide the brand with more visibility and millions of additional customers.
“If we don't buy our products on Target, they'll cancel us off the shelf and make sure we buy back products we already bought from us,” said beautiful Curly Me, a black-owned doll brand, in an Instagram post.
“We have dolls on our website, but having dolls in large retail stores gives us visibility to millions and helps us really expand,” the brand added.
The retailer's chief executive recently warned of price increases after the shock from tariffs, so boycotting is particularly effective at hurting target sales due to timing.
Target CEO Brian Cornell said Tuesday that Trump's tariffs on Mexico could force him to raise prices for fruit and vegetables soon this week.
The company said uncertainty from the new trade policy will reduce profits this quarter.
