Corporate Pride Reversal Is Bad Business
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Florida takes aim at Target’s 2023 Pride collection in a lawsuit over the retailer’s DEI initiatives
Florida is going after Target in court. The state argues Target’s handling of its 2023 LGBTQ Pride collection was harmful to shareholders. The proposed class action lawsuit is related to an earlier shareholder lawsuit filed in August 2023 against Target, as well as one filed last month by the City of Riviera Beach police pension fund. Many other retailers have similarly been retooling their approach to DEI following President Donald Trump’s executive order announcing the termination of these practices in the federal government. The company has also recently struggled to compete for inflation-weary consumers against larger rivals.
Florida is going after Target in court. Dominick Reuter/Insider
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The state of Florida has joined the growing legal challenges against Target.
The State Board of Administration of Florida, an agency that oversees public pension funds that own Target stock, has sued the retailer, arguing it misled investors about the impact of backlash to its Pride campaign and DEI initiatives.
Florida argues Target’s handling of its 2023 LGBTQ Pride collection was uniquely harmful to shareholders.
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“The Campaign provoked immense consumer backlash and boycotts that caused Target’s sales to fall for the first time in six years and wiped out over $25 billion in Target’s market capitalization—leading Target’s stock to experience its longest losing streak in 23 years,” the complaint says.
Target did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
The proposed class action lawsuit is related to an earlier shareholder lawsuit filed in August 2023 against Target, as well as one filed last month by the City of Riviera Beach police pension fund. All three lawsuits were filed in federal court in Ft. Meyers.
Target executives did say during an August 2023 earnings call that traffic and top-line trends were affected by backlash to its Pride collection, but added that “it’s not possible to reliably quantify the separate impact.”
The company has also recently struggled to compete for inflation-weary consumers against larger rivals like Walmart and Amazon, among other business challenges.
Target may be facing the reverse backlash as well, as numerous employees and customers have told Business Insider they no longer support Target after they feel it has caved to anti-DEI pressure.
Last month, Target said it was retiring several DEI initiatives to remain “in step with the evolving external landscape.”
Many other retailers have similarly been retooling their approach to DEI following President Donald Trump’s executive order announcing the termination of these practices in the federal government.
The January 22 order directs all government departments and agencies to “take strong action to end private sector DEI discrimination.”
All The Major Companies And Orgs Dumping Their DEI Programs (Full List)
IBM and beer brewer Constellation Brands are reportedly among the latest in a wave of corporations retreating from diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Foot traffic at Target has dropped for eight straight weeks, dating back to the company’s announcement at the end of January that it would roll back DEI policies. The FCC Chair said last week he would investigate Disney and ABC over their DEI programs, telling company CEO Bob Iger in a letter he would investigation whether the company is “violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations.” T-Mobile also reportedly pared back DeI language on its website, ahead of closing a deal with fiber provider Lumos. Some companies, including Costco and Apple, have not backed down from their DeI policies, stating DEI is ‘about talent and that’s been our focus.’ Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told Axios “a diverse workforce is better” because “there’�s too much business value” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said the company stands “firmly’ behind its diversity programs.
Timeline
France, Belgium Object To Trump’s Pressure On Dei Initiatives
American embassies sent letters to foreign contractors, including those in France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Spain, directing them to comply with Trump’s DEI orders, prompting pushback from multiple countries. “If contracts were to be terminated solely because a company is committed to diversity and inclusion, this could constitute a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Belgian deputy prime minister Maxime Prévot said in a statement Tuesday, stating the U.S. embassy “must comply with Belgian law in its actions.” “This practice reflects the values of the new American administration. They are not ours,” French economy minister Eric Lombard said in a statement.
Is Target Losing Traffic After Dropping Dei?
Foot traffic at Target has dropped for eight straight weeks, dating back to the company’s announcement at the end of January that it would roll back DEI policies, Retail Brew reported. Retail Brew cited data from Placer.ai, which measures foot traffic, that found traffic year-over-year declined at an average of 6.2% over the past eight weeks. Retail Brew compared the figure to Costco’s foot traffic, which has stood behind its DEI policies, noting the retailer’s foot traffic has grown for 13 straight weeks.
Why Is The Fcc Targeting Disney And Other Companies?
FCC Chair Brendan Carr said last week he would investigate Disney and ABC over their DEI programs, telling company CEO Bob Iger in a letter he would investigate whether the company is “violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” Carr threatened in an interview earlier this week ABC could lose its broadcast license if the FCC finds the company was “engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination.” T-Mobile also reportedly pared back DEI language on its website, Fierce Network reported, ahead of closing a deal with fiber provider Lumos. T-Mobile executive vice president Mark Nelson had sent a letter to the FCC last week stating the company is “conducting a comprehensive review of its DEI policies, programs, and activities.” Carr has also opened DEI probes at other companies, including Comcast and Verizon.
Contra
Some companies, including Costco and Apple, have not backed down from their DEI policies. Costco’s shareholders overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposal that would have obligated the company to review the potential risks of maintaining its DEI initiatives, with more than 98% of shareholders voting against the proposal. The board said it “believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary.” Apple’s board similarly urged shareholders to reject a proposal raised by the same think tank, accusing the group of “inappropriately” attempting to “restrict Apple’s ability to manage its own ordinary business operations”—prompting Trump to slam Apple and call DEI a “hoax” on Truth Social. Delta Airlines also said it remains committed to DEI on a Jan. 10 earnings call. Peter Carter, the company’s executive vice president for external affairs, told a reporter the company is not reevaluating DEI or sustainability policies because “they are actually critical to our business,” stating DEI is “about talent and that’s been our focus.” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told Axios “a diverse workforce is better” because “there’s too much business value.” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said at a press conference the company stands “firmly behind” its “integral” DEI programs, stating the company can “see how Deutsche Bank has benefited from it.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a press conference ahead of Super Bowl LIX the NFL—which requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for vacant head coach, general manager and coordinator positions as part of its broader commitment to diversity—will continue its diversity efforts “because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, I think we’ve proven … that it does make the NFL better.” Coca-Cola warned in an annual filing that abandoning DEI could hurt business, stating its diverse employee base “helps drive a culture of inclusion, innovation and growth,” and if the company’s employees don’t reflect the “broad range of consumers and markets we serve around the world, our business could be negatively affected.”
How Are Trump’s Department Of Justice And Pam Bondi Targeting Dei?
Shortly after being sworn in, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo to Justice Department staff stating the department will “investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI and DEIA preferences” at private companies and universities that receive federal funds. She urged the department to enforce federal civil rights laws to push private companies to roll back DEI, and cited the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Supreme Court case, which ended affirmative action, as cause for eliminating DEI at universities.
What Has Trump Said About Dei Programs?
In an executive order issued on the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump ordered the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government—but it has also threatens to punish some private entities, like public companies, non-profits and universities, that use them. In his executive order, Trump slammed the “infiltration” of the federal government with DEI programs, citing an executive order former President Joe Biden issued on his first day in office that directed federal agencies to address racial inequities. Trump’s executive order directs federal government agencies to no longer consider diversity in hiring and revise employee training programs to gut DEI training. The order also demands the elimination of “environmental justice” offices and positions in federal agencies. During his inaugural address, Trump vowed he would “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” stating he would “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.” Trump also signed an executive order eliminating DEI offices and policies within the military, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, which he considered to be “race-based and sex-based discrimination,” and in a separate executive order, effectively reinstated his 2017 ban on transgender troops, banning “identification-based pronoun usage” and prohibiting troops assigned male at birth from using women’s bathing or sleeping facilities.
What Did Ceos—and Trump—say About Dei At Davos?
Several business leaders addressed diversity, equity and inclusion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while Trump railed against it in his speech. In his address, Trump said his administration is moving to “abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense” in both the government and the private sector, and said the United States will become a “merit-based country.” But some CEOs who attended the forum this week defended the practice, CNBC reported, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who said his company will “continue to reach out to the Black community and Hispanic community, LGBT community, and the veteran community.”
What Is The National Center For Public Policy Research?
A conservative think tank, the group pushes shareholder resolutions at many companies that would roll back corporate DEI and environmental regulations. The group launched its Free Enterprise Project in 2007 to combat what it calls the “woke takeover of American corporate life” through these proposals. Apple previously rebuffed the National Center for Public Policy Research in 2014, when shareholders rejected a resolution that would have forced the company to disclose more about the cost effectiveness of its investments to combat climate change. Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly became visibly angry at the company’s annual meeting when a NCPPR representative asked him questions, stating the company considers more than just profitability when it invests in environmental causes. “If you want me to do things only for [return on investment] reasons, you should get out of this stock,” Cook said.
Why Are Dei Policies Under Attack?
Diversity, equity and inclusion policies—which can include employer-mandated diversity trainings, resource groups for underrepresented minorities and commitments to equity in hiring—swept corporate America after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. But recently, these programs have faced legal and political challenges and a wave of backlash from conservative critics and free speech advocates, who consider DEI policies racist and “woke.” Billionaires Bill Ackman and Elon Musk are among the anti-DEI crusade’s most outspoken advocates. Ackman became DEI’s fiercest crusader last year when he pushed for the eventual resignation of former Harvard University President Claudine Gay after her remarks to Congress about antisemitism on campus following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel were widely criticized. Ackman, in an essay slamming DEI, claimed he had learned Gay was hired through a Harvard presidential search process that primarily considered candidates who met certain diversity criteria, though a Harvard spokesman said DEI officers had no hiring authority. Many Republican-controlled state legislatures took action against DEI in 2024, with several states, including Alabama, Iowa and Utah banning DEI at public colleges and universities. The wave of conservative backlash against companies deemed “woke” picked up significant steam in 2023 when Bud Light became the target of a conservative boycott after it briefly collaborated with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a marketing promotion. The boycott tanked the beer brand’s sales and unleashed a wave of smaller copycat boycotts against companies who engaged in marketing outreach to the LGBTQ communities or voiced commitments to DEI.
Who Is Robby Starbuck?
Robby Starbuck, a former music video director, has led the charge on social media against companies that are committed to DEI policies and has orchestrated public pressure campaigns to get companies to abandon these commitments. Several of the companies that have abandoned DEI policies in recent months were targeted by Starbuck, who encouraged his followers to boycott companies including John Deere, Harley-Davidson and Lowe’s. Starbuck has claimed credit for these policy changes, stating in a post on X in November he had threatened to expose the “wokeness” at Walmart, but claimed he had “productive conversations” with the company that influenced its decision to scale back its DEI efforts. Starbuck again claimed credit for McDonald’s rolling back its DEI policies, posting on X that he had told the company he would publish a “story on woke policies there” three days before it announced its DEI policy changes.
Chief Critics
The Human Rights Campaign, whose Corporate Equality Index is a frequent casualty of the DEI policy rollbacks, criticized the anti-DEI crusade in its fall 2024 magazine as a “coordinated campaign led by the same actors who have been driving the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislative and legal attacks across the country.” HRC called out Starbuck for “misrepresenting” the Equality Index as a “coercive tool forcing businesses to adopt ‘woke’ policies,” instead clarifying it is a “voluntary, widely respected benchmark for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion.” Mark Cuban has frequently defended DEI, stating in April he believes “DEI is a positive because I see its impact on bottom lines,” citing the hundreds of companies he invests in.
Key Background
Some companies slashing their DEI programs have cited the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Further Reading
Costco is pushing back — hard — against the anti-DEI movement (CNN)
What is DEI and why is it dividing America? (CNN)
All The Major Companies And Orgs Dumping Their DEI Programs (Full List)
IBM and beer brewer Constellation Brands are reportedly among the latest in a wave of corporations retreating from diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Foot traffic at Target has dropped for eight straight weeks, dating back to the company’s announcement at the end of January that it would roll back DEI policies. The FCC Chair said last week he would investigate Disney and ABC over their DEI programs, telling company CEO Bob Iger in a letter he would investigation whether the company is “violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations.” T-Mobile also reportedly pared back DeI language on its website, ahead of closing a deal with fiber provider Lumos. Some companies, including Costco and Apple, have not backed down from their DeI policies, stating DEI is ‘about talent and that’s been our focus.’ Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told Axios “a diverse workforce is better” because “there’�s too much business value” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said the company stands “firmly’ behind its diversity programs.
Timeline
France, Belgium Object To Trump’s Pressure On Dei Initiatives
American embassies sent letters to foreign contractors, including those in France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Spain, directing them to comply with Trump’s DEI orders, prompting pushback from multiple countries. “If contracts were to be terminated solely because a company is committed to diversity and inclusion, this could constitute a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Belgian deputy prime minister Maxime Prévot said in a statement Tuesday, stating the U.S. embassy “must comply with Belgian law in its actions.” “This practice reflects the values of the new American administration. They are not ours,” French economy minister Eric Lombard said in a statement.
Is Target Losing Traffic After Dropping Dei?
Foot traffic at Target has dropped for eight straight weeks, dating back to the company’s announcement at the end of January that it would roll back DEI policies, Retail Brew reported. Retail Brew cited data from Placer.ai, which measures foot traffic, that found traffic year-over-year declined at an average of 6.2% over the past eight weeks. Retail Brew compared the figure to Costco’s foot traffic, which has stood behind its DEI policies, noting the retailer’s foot traffic has grown for 13 straight weeks.
Why Is The Fcc Targeting Disney And Other Companies?
FCC Chair Brendan Carr said last week he would investigate Disney and ABC over their DEI programs, telling company CEO Bob Iger in a letter he would investigate whether the company is “violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” Carr threatened in an interview earlier this week ABC could lose its broadcast license if the FCC finds the company was “engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination.” T-Mobile also reportedly pared back DEI language on its website, Fierce Network reported, ahead of closing a deal with fiber provider Lumos. T-Mobile executive vice president Mark Nelson had sent a letter to the FCC last week stating the company is “conducting a comprehensive review of its DEI policies, programs, and activities.” Carr has also opened DEI probes at other companies, including Comcast and Verizon.
Contra
Some companies, including Costco and Apple, have not backed down from their DEI policies. Costco’s shareholders overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposal that would have obligated the company to review the potential risks of maintaining its DEI initiatives, with more than 98% of shareholders voting against the proposal. The board said it “believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary.” Apple’s board similarly urged shareholders to reject a proposal raised by the same think tank, accusing the group of “inappropriately” attempting to “restrict Apple’s ability to manage its own ordinary business operations”—prompting Trump to slam Apple and call DEI a “hoax” on Truth Social. Delta Airlines also said it remains committed to DEI on a Jan. 10 earnings call. Peter Carter, the company’s executive vice president for external affairs, told a reporter the company is not reevaluating DEI or sustainability policies because “they are actually critical to our business,” stating DEI is “about talent and that’s been our focus.” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told Axios “a diverse workforce is better” because “there’s too much business value.” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said at a press conference the company stands “firmly behind” its “integral” DEI programs, stating the company can “see how Deutsche Bank has benefited from it.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a press conference ahead of Super Bowl LIX the NFL—which requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for vacant head coach, general manager and coordinator positions as part of its broader commitment to diversity—will continue its diversity efforts “because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, I think we’ve proven … that it does make the NFL better.” Coca-Cola warned in an annual filing that abandoning DEI could hurt business, stating its diverse employee base “helps drive a culture of inclusion, innovation and growth,” and if the company’s employees don’t reflect the “broad range of consumers and markets we serve around the world, our business could be negatively affected.”
How Are Trump’s Department Of Justice And Pam Bondi Targeting Dei?
Shortly after being sworn in, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo to Justice Department staff stating the department will “investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI and DEIA preferences” at private companies and universities that receive federal funds. She urged the department to enforce federal civil rights laws to push private companies to roll back DEI, and cited the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Supreme Court case, which ended affirmative action, as cause for eliminating DEI at universities.
What Has Trump Said About Dei Programs?
In an executive order issued on the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump ordered the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government—but it has also threatens to punish some private entities, like public companies, non-profits and universities, that use them. In his executive order, Trump slammed the “infiltration” of the federal government with DEI programs, citing an executive order former President Joe Biden issued on his first day in office that directed federal agencies to address racial inequities. Trump’s executive order directs federal government agencies to no longer consider diversity in hiring and revise employee training programs to gut DEI training. The order also demands the elimination of “environmental justice” offices and positions in federal agencies. During his inaugural address, Trump vowed he would “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” stating he would “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.” Trump also signed an executive order eliminating DEI offices and policies within the military, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, which he considered to be “race-based and sex-based discrimination,” and in a separate executive order, effectively reinstated his 2017 ban on transgender troops, banning “identification-based pronoun usage” and prohibiting troops assigned male at birth from using women’s bathing or sleeping facilities.
What Did Ceos—and Trump—say About Dei At Davos?
Several business leaders addressed diversity, equity and inclusion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while Trump railed against it in his speech. In his address, Trump said his administration is moving to “abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense” in both the government and the private sector, and said the United States will become a “merit-based country.” But some CEOs who attended the forum this week defended the practice, CNBC reported, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who said his company will “continue to reach out to the Black community and Hispanic community, LGBT community, and the veteran community.”
What Is The National Center For Public Policy Research?
A conservative think tank, the group pushes shareholder resolutions at many companies that would roll back corporate DEI and environmental regulations. The group launched its Free Enterprise Project in 2007 to combat what it calls the “woke takeover of American corporate life” through these proposals. Apple previously rebuffed the National Center for Public Policy Research in 2014, when shareholders rejected a resolution that would have forced the company to disclose more about the cost effectiveness of its investments to combat climate change. Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly became visibly angry at the company’s annual meeting when a NCPPR representative asked him questions, stating the company considers more than just profitability when it invests in environmental causes. “If you want me to do things only for [return on investment] reasons, you should get out of this stock,” Cook said.
Why Are Dei Policies Under Attack?
Diversity, equity and inclusion policies—which can include employer-mandated diversity trainings, resource groups for underrepresented minorities and commitments to equity in hiring—swept corporate America after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. But recently, these programs have faced legal and political challenges and a wave of backlash from conservative critics and free speech advocates, who consider DEI policies racist and “woke.” Billionaires Bill Ackman and Elon Musk are among the anti-DEI crusade’s most outspoken advocates. Ackman became DEI’s fiercest crusader last year when he pushed for the eventual resignation of former Harvard University President Claudine Gay after her remarks to Congress about antisemitism on campus following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel were widely criticized. Ackman, in an essay slamming DEI, claimed he had learned Gay was hired through a Harvard presidential search process that primarily considered candidates who met certain diversity criteria, though a Harvard spokesman said DEI officers had no hiring authority. Many Republican-controlled state legislatures took action against DEI in 2024, with several states, including Alabama, Iowa and Utah banning DEI at public colleges and universities. The wave of conservative backlash against companies deemed “woke” picked up significant steam in 2023 when Bud Light became the target of a conservative boycott after it briefly collaborated with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a marketing promotion. The boycott tanked the beer brand’s sales and unleashed a wave of smaller copycat boycotts against companies who engaged in marketing outreach to the LGBTQ communities or voiced commitments to DEI.
Who Is Robby Starbuck?
Robby Starbuck, a former music video director, has led the charge on social media against companies that are committed to DEI policies and has orchestrated public pressure campaigns to get companies to abandon these commitments. Several of the companies that have abandoned DEI policies in recent months were targeted by Starbuck, who encouraged his followers to boycott companies including John Deere, Harley-Davidson and Lowe’s. Starbuck has claimed credit for these policy changes, stating in a post on X in November he had threatened to expose the “wokeness” at Walmart, but claimed he had “productive conversations” with the company that influenced its decision to scale back its DEI efforts. Starbuck again claimed credit for McDonald’s rolling back its DEI policies, posting on X that he had told the company he would publish a “story on woke policies there” three days before it announced its DEI policy changes.
Chief Critics
The Human Rights Campaign, whose Corporate Equality Index is a frequent casualty of the DEI policy rollbacks, criticized the anti-DEI crusade in its fall 2024 magazine as a “coordinated campaign led by the same actors who have been driving the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislative and legal attacks across the country.” HRC called out Starbuck for “misrepresenting” the Equality Index as a “coercive tool forcing businesses to adopt ‘woke’ policies,” instead clarifying it is a “voluntary, widely respected benchmark for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion.” Mark Cuban has frequently defended DEI, stating in April he believes “DEI is a positive because I see its impact on bottom lines,” citing the hundreds of companies he invests in.
Key Background
Some companies slashing their DEI programs have cited the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Further Reading
Costco is pushing back — hard — against the anti-DEI movement (CNN)
What is DEI and why is it dividing America? (CNN)
Target was one of the most outspoken supporters of DEI. It’s changed its tune
Target is ending its pledge to increase its Black workforce by 20% and its executive racial equity committee. The company is the poster child for corporate America’s change on diversity and inclusion. Target is altering its approach in response to political, legal and social changes. Because Target was so vocal in its diversity efforts in recent years, the company’s shift has alienated some loyal customers and suppliers. It’s not yet clear how this will impact other large companies, such as Walmart, McDonalds and Amazon, which are changing or ending their DEI programs.. The shift is symbolic of a broader pivot across corporate America. In 2020, Target CEO Brian Cornell vowed to reopen one of Target’s stores damaged in protests against police violence. In 2022, Target was honored for its “outstanding commitment to achieving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)” in 2022 by the Executive Leadership Council, a prominent organization of global Black CEOs. The following year, Target pledged to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025.
Target was one of corporate America’s most forceful supporters of diversity and inclusion initiatives and vowed to support Black Americans in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by police in Target’s home city of Minneapolis in 2020. But less than five years later, Target has dialed back its high-profile DEI program.
In 2020, Target CEO Brian Cornell said Floyd’s murder, which took place just 10 minutes from Target’s headquarters, had a personal impact on him and Target employees, and Cornell vowed to reopen one of Target’s stores damaged in protests against police violence.
George Floyd “could have been one of my Target team members,” Cornell later said.
Months after the murder, Target pledged to increase its Black workforce by 20% throughout the company over three years and take other steps to “advance racial equity,” including establishing an executive Racial Equity Action and Change committee to “focus specifically on how we can drive lasting impact” for Black employees and customers.
The following year, Target pledged to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025, including adding more products from 500 Black-owned vendors to stores, and pledging $100 million to support Black-led nonprofits and provide scholarships to students attending HBCUs.
Target was honored for its “outstanding commitment to achieving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)” in 2022 by the Executive Leadership Council, a prominent organization of global Black CEOs. Cornell accepted the award for Target at a star-studded gala.
Cornell defended Target’s “bold commitments” to DEI in 2023, saying they were helping Target’s business.
“That focus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth,” he said. “The things we’ve done from a DE&I standpoint — it’s adding value, it’s helping us drive sales, it’s building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests. And those are just the right things for our business today.”
Brian Cornell, chief executive officer and chairman of Target, in 2019. Sarah Blesener/Bloomberg/Getty Images
But Target has now shifted its message. The company is the poster child for corporate America’s change on DEI and direct public commitments to advance progress for Black Americans and racial minorities. Because Target was so vocal in its diversity efforts in recent years, the company’s shift has alienated some loyal customers and suppliers.
Target recently announced it was ending its pledge to increase its Black workforce by 20% and its executive racial equity committee. Target said it was “further evaluating” corporate partnerships and changing its “supplier diversity” team, focused on bringing in Black-owned and diverse suppliers, to a “supplier engagement” team working more broadly on including small businesses without specific regard to race. Target will also stop participating in external diversity-focused surveys, including one from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
A spokesperson for Target said Target was on track to meet its prior workforce diversity goals and financial commitments to Black suppliers.
Gone from Target’s announcement were prior vows to directly advance equality for Black people or any representation goals or financial targets, instead replaced by a new company strategy called “Belonging at the Bullseye.” The spokesperson said Target first introduced this concept to employees last year.
“We remain focused on driving our business by creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests and communities through a commitment to inclusion,” Target said. “Belonging for all is an essential part of our team and culture, helping fuel consumer relevance and business results.”
Pressure on Target over diversity and Pride
Target is altering its approach in response to political, legal and social changes. They include opposition from right-wing activists, lawsuits from conservative legal groups, demand from conservative-leaning customers and other factors.
President Donald Trump last month also placed employees in any federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices on leave, and the Trump administration plans to take further aim at diversity programs. It’s not yet clear how this will impact Target and other large companies.
Target stressed in its statement the need for “staying in step with the evolving external landscape,” a hint at how the tide has shifted since its pledges in 2020.
Target is joining a growing list of companies changing or ending their DEI programs, such as Amazon, Meta, Walmart, McDonald’s and others.
Target’s change is symbolic of a broader pivot across corporate America.
A Target store in Brooklyn in August. Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg/Getty Images
In 2020 and 2021, companies raced to add DEI roles and chief diversity officers, made lofty commitments to racial justice and invested in programs and organizations to support Blacks and other racial minorities. In 2020, companies spent an estimated $7.5 billion on DEI-related efforts, such as employee resource groups, according to a McKinsey study.
But opposition to companies’ efforts began to emerge on the right.
Bud Light was a potent warning on the risks of LGBTQ-driven marketing campaigns. In 2023, Bud Light’s parent company A-B InBev lost as much as $1.4 billion in sales because of backlash to Bud Light’s brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Target that year also became embroiled in the political culture wars over gender and sexual orientation.
Target faced a pressure campaign from some prominent right-wing activists, Republican political leaders and conservative media outlets over its Pride Month merchandise.
Opponents focused their attention on a women’s swimsuit sold at Target that was described as “tuck friendly” for its ability to conceal male genitalia. Misinformation spread on social media that it was marketed to children, which it was not.
Republican attorneys general in several states wrote to Target warning that merchandise in its Pride Month collection could violate their states’ child protection laws.
The campaign became hostile, with violent threats levied against Target employees and instances of damaged products and displays in stores. Target opted to remove certain items that caused the most “volatile” reaction from opponents, which Target said was done to protect its workers’ safety.
Target’s response frustrated some supporters of gay and transgender rights, who said the company caved to bigoted pressure.
Target’s quarterly sales fell for the first time in six years following Pride Month in 2023. “The strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment” impacted sales, said Christina Hennington, Target’s chief growth officer.
‘Even Target is turning their back?’
Ryan Wilson, an Atlanta business leader and co-founder of The Gathering Spot, a members-only club for young professionals, said that Target and other companies had violated core “values” they espoused.
He believes Target will lose support from minority customers.
Still, there is a divide among some Black leaders and Black Target suppliers about how hard to punish Target.
Nina Turner, a progressive political leader and founder of We Are Somebody, a worker advocacy group, called for a Target boycott.
“There’s power in our purchase,” she told CNN. “We should not spend a dime at Target stores.” “It’s not lost on me that Target is headquartered where the George Floyd uprising happened,” she said. “How quickly they forget and reverse course.”
But others appear unsure of an immediate boycott. On Wednesday, the NAACP released a statement saying it is talking to Target about its diversity plans. Rev. Al Sharpton’s group, the National Action Network, will conduct a 90-day review of companies before potential decisions on a boycott.
A Target store in Miami in May. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Melissa Butler, founder of the startup beauty brand Lip Bar, said a boycott could hurt Black-owned brands like hers, but she understood customers’ frustration with Target.
“A lot of my customers shop us at Target and they were asking, ‘what’s going on, what does this mean for The Lip Bar?’” she told CNN.
“In our eight years in Target, the relationship has been great and we have grown a lot,” she said. “Target has historically been a brand champion for small businesses, women owned businesses, Black owned businesses…It feels like wait, what’s happening? Even Target is turning their back?”
Just because Target is scaling back their DEI commitments doesn’t mean it is going to be ending relationships with businesses owned by people of color, Butler said.
A Target spokesperson said that the company was proud of its wide-ranging assortment and partnerships, including Black-owned and minority-owned products. Target will “continue to aim to create joyful experiences through an assortment of products and services that help all guests feel seen and celebrated.”
Target’s recent changes to its diversity and inclusion programs have also angered some longtime LGBTQ supporters.
Twin Cities Pride, an LGBTQ advocacy group that hosts Minnesota’s second largest Pride festival, said it was “deeply disappointed” in Target’s changes and dropped Target as a sponsor of this year’s Pride festival after 18 years.
Twin Cities Pride said the change would mean losing $50,000 in funding and called on supporters to help fill the funding gap. The group raised $80,000 from 1,500 people in three days. “Twin Cities Pride made the bold decision to part ways with Target as a sponsor, standing firm in our commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity,” the organization said.
Target retreated on DEI. Then came the backlash
Target announced it was ending some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The company is facing backlash from customers, the heirs to one of its founders and civil rights activists. Target is under more heat than companies like Walmart, John Deere or Tractor Supply because it went further in its DEI efforts and it has a more progressive base of customers than those companies. It’s still too early to say whether public criticism will hurt Target financially or cause lasting damage to the company, experts say. But the blowback highlights the risks of companies abruptly moving away from diversity initiatives that still enjoy support on the left, they say. DEI supporters say Target’s change has angered some customers who say the company’s moves have given them whiplash. Some friends and family have stopped shopping at Target, this person said. “When you lose trust, it’s hard to bring back,” the former executive said.“People are questioning whether they were really behind this in the first place or if it was marketing stunt.”
Almost a month after Target said it was ending some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the company is facing backlash from customers, the heirs to one of its founders and civil rights activists.
On January 24, days into the Trump presidency, Target announced it was eliminating hiring goals for minority employees, ending an executive committee focused on racial justice and making other changes to its diversity initiatives. Target said it had a new strategy called “Belonging at the Bullseye,” which it first introduced last year, and the company remained committed to “creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests and communities.” Target also stressed the need for “staying in step with the evolving external landscape.”
Target is one of dozens of Fortune 500 companies that have backtracked on DEI in response to conservative court decisions, pressure from activists and right-wing legal groups, and, more recently, the Trump administration’s threats to investigate what it characterizes as “illegal DEI,” including potential criminal cases against companies.
But no company has faced as fierce a blowback from DEI supporters as Target.
Target is under more heat than companies like Walmart, John Deere or Tractor Supply because it went further in its DEI efforts, and it has a more progressive base of customers than those companies.
Target’s DEI rollback “seems to be rather arbitrary, based on current political mood,” said Shreyans Goenka, a marketing professor at Virginia Tech who studies how political beliefs impact consumer choices. “When brands become arbitrary in their social causes — supporting DEI today, rolling it back tomorrow — that leads to inconsistent positioning and it makes the brand seem inauthentic.”
Protests outside of Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis last month over its moves. Ellen Schmidt/AP
Target was a leading advocate for DEI programs in the business world in the years after George Floyd was murdered by police in the company’s home city of Minneapolis in 2020. Target also spent years building a public reputation as a progressive employer on LGBTQ issues. The company publicly supported gay marriage in 2014 before it was legalized nationwide, and it was one of the first national retailers to allow transgender employees and customers to choose bathrooms corresponding to their gender identities.
Target also stepped up efforts to attract young parents and minority customers in recent years and built up a strong customer base of Democrats. Democrats are likelier to shop at Target and view the chain more favorably, according to polls and surveys. Target has made a push to open smaller stores in cities and near college campuses, which tend to be more liberal.
It’s still too early to say whether public criticism will hurt Target financially or cause lasting damage to the company. But the blowback to Target’s DEI moves represents a significant challenge to its business and highlights the risks of companies abruptly moving away from diversity initiatives that still enjoy support on the left. Companies are caught between pursuing efforts to increase diversity and avoiding a conservative legal crackdown.
One former Target executive who spoke under the condition of anonymity due to fear of career repercussions, said that the company is getting stung by customers who feel they were “sold a lie.”
“Black people supported Target. They went to that space because of what Target had done,” the former executive said. “People are questioning whether they were really behind this in the first place or if it was marketing stunt.”
Some friends and family have stopped shopping at Target, this person said. “When you lose trust, it’s hard to bring back.”
Whiplash to Target
Target’s change has angered some customers who say the company’s moves have given them whiplash.
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, Target established an executive Racial Equity Action and Change committee, pledged to increase its Black workforce by 20% throughout the company and committed to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025.
Target was honored for its “outstanding commitment to achieving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” in 2022 by the Executive Leadership Council, a prominent organization of global Black CEOs.
But Target has now changed its message. Its racial equity committee, minority hiring pledges, and financial commitments to Black-owned suppliers are all ending, as well as Target’s participation in external diversity-focused surveys like the one from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
Target said it’s still committed to inclusivity and offering a wide range of products and services, including Black and minority-owned products, in a statement to CNN.
“For more than 20 years, Target has fueled our business by building teams with diverse perspectives and experiences, creating inclusive work and guest environments that welcome all, and developing strategies that represent the U.S. consumers we serve,” Target said.
Target has said the company was on track to meet its prior workforce diversity goals and financial commitments to Black suppliers, as well.
But several top Black Target executives and senior leaders have left the company in recent years, including three of the six from Target’s executive racial equity committee.
‘A betrayal’
Target is getting hit on several fronts, and there are signs that the backlash may be impacting business.
Anne and Lucy Dayton, the daughters of one of Target’s co-founders, called the company’s actions “a betrayal” and said they were “shocked and dismayed” by Target’s DEI rollback in a letter published last week in the Los Angeles Times. “By cowering, Target and others are undermining the very principles that have made their companies a success,” said the daughters, who are not involved in Target.
Target also received nearly triple the number of social media posts about its DEI changes than Walmart, according to an analysis by the Social Element, a marketing firm.
Most of the comments have denounced Target’s move. Target received at least twice as many negative comments of its DEI moves as positive comments, according to the analysis. Some of the top posts were calls to boycott Target or switch to Costco and other retailers that were sticking with their DEI programs.
“The sentiment has been overwhelmingly negative,” said Ashley Cooksley and Linn Frost, CEOs of the Social Element.
Jamal Bryant, a prominent pastor in Atlanta, has called for a 40-day boycott of Target beginning in March. More than 50,000 have signed the online pledge.
“We have witnessed a disturbing retreat from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives by major corporations,” the petition says. “The greatest insult comes from Target.”
Fewer customers also visited Target’s stores in the week after the company announced its DEI changes.
Foot traffic to Target’s stores increased annually for four consecutive weeks, but dropped 4% annually for the week of January 27, three days after Target’s announcement, according to Placer.ai., which uses phone location data to track visits. Placer.ai said the slowdown could also be attributed to weather, economic conditions and other variables. Data for the most recent weeks is not yet available.
Other companies changed DEI policies in response to legal and political shifts without too much blowback. Target bet customers would not punish the chain for making similar changes, but it miscalculated, said Scott Bisang, a partner at Connected Strategies, a communications firm.
“Target misjudged their customer base,” Bisang said. Target “underestimated how annoyed people would get because (Target) saw other companies survive it and get past it.”
Another Bud Light?
What’s more puzzling, some experts say, is that Target is repeating its mistake of alienating progressive customers.
In 2023, Target faced a right-wing pressure campaign over its Pride Month merchandise collection. Opponents focused their attention on a women’s swimsuit sold at Target that was described as “tuck friendly” for its ability to conceal male genitalia. Misinformation spread on social media that it was marketed to children, which it was not.
The campaign became hostile, with violent threats levied against Target employees and damaged products and displays in stores. Target opted to remove items that caused the most “volatile” reaction from opponents, which the company said was done to protect its workers’ safety.
But Target’s response frustrated some supporters of gay and transgender rights, who said the company caved to bigoted pressure. Target’s quarterly sales fell following Pride Month in 2023, although they recovered in the following quarters.
Target pulled some of its Pride Month merchandise from stores in 2023 after conservative backlash. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“Target was a vocal advocate and sponsor of Pride,” Bisang said. “They had seen warning signs from the LGBTQ pullback the last time.”
The big question is whether the reaction and boycott calls will cause long-term damage to Target, like they did to Bud Light, or fade away. In 2023, Bud Light’s parent company A-B InBev lost as much as $1.4 billion in sales because of right-wing backlash to Bud Light’s brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
One of the key reasons the Bud Light boycott was successful was because it was very easy for customers to substitute Coors or Miller without much sacrifice, said Jura Liaukonyte, a marketing professor at Cornell University who studies consumer boycotts.
A boycott campaign against Target could be hard to sustain because other chains that consumers might switch to like Walmart or Amazon have also rolled back DEI programs. Boycott calls against Goya Foods for its CEO’s support of Trump in 2020 also had limited success because many of those advocating for a boycott were not Goya’s core consumers to begin with, Liaukonyte said.
“Whether Target faces sustained sales declines like Bud Light did will depend on how much of its core shopper base aligns with the backlash,” she said, and how convenient it is for shoppers to switch to other stores.