Target Corporation’s stock has lost a significant amount in the past two weeks as the retailer continues to face backlash over its line of LGBT clothing for children.
According to an analysis posted by the New York Post, Target’s stock has lost about $12.7 billion so far amid the backlash.
Target has been the subject of a conservative-led boycott that was caused by the company’s move to release LGBT-friendly clothing for children, including apparel with the transgender flag colors.
The products drew the ire of prominent conservatives, who accused the Minneapolis-based retailer of grooming and exploiting children. The company responded by moving some of those items to other locations in the store, according to a news release issued last week.
“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, without elaborating on the specific threats. “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.”
It isn’t clear whether any police reports were filed by the company.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens, of the Daily Wire, and others have suggested that people boycott Target because of the products. Others said that Target should be given the “Bud Light treatment,” referring to the backlash against the beer brand for its move to produce a beer can with a transgender activist’s face on it.
“I cannot state enough how important is for people to choose not to shop at Target. There has never been a company that has been more pro-transgenderism than Target,” Owens wrote earlier this month.
In 2016, Target faced boycott calls from conservative groups over its bathroom policy. One of them, the conservative American Family Association (AFA) said at the time that its members shouldn’t shop at Target and accused it of possibly exposing women and girls to sexual predators.
Target’s policy “means a man can simply say he feels like a woman today and enter the women’s restroom ... this is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims,” AFA wrote on its website at the time.
Also last week, former Fox News host Megyn Kelly expressed concern about children’s being exposed to LGBT-linked products at Target, writing: “We don’t need our kids seeing this [expletive] when we walk down the aisle at Target.”
“This marks our 11th year of partnership, with a total of $2.1 million in support to date,” Target stated on its website.
Will It Work?
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over the weekend responded to the boycott and signaled that it will be hard to sustain—unlike the one targeting Bud Light.“What really came to bite Bud Light is that wasn’t a hard boycott,” Cruz said during a recent episode of his podcast. “It’s difficult for nobody on planet Earth if you were going to order a Bud Light to say, ‘I’ll have a Coors Light.’ That’s a very simple substitution.
“Target? We’ll see how prolonged and easy a substitution it is. There’s Walmart. You know, there are alternatives. I will say Targets are located in a lot of areas and very convenient for a lot of shoppers. So we’ll see if this becomes a persistent consequence or not.
“Conservatives have typically been not very good at boycotts.”
Target’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.