AMAC Exclusive – By Neil Banerji
2023 has not been a good year for Target, as the retail giant’s full-on embrace of wokeness has caused the company’s stock price to tumble and forced a series of embarrassing backtracks.
The most recent 180 came earlier this month when Target announced that it will indeed sell conservative radio host Mark Levin’s newest book, The Democratic Party Hates America, in stores when it is released on September 19. Initially, Target had told the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, it would not carry the book because “certain customers might be offended by the title.”
Conservatives quickly rallied to Levin’s defense after he announced Target’s decision to refuse to sell the book on July 5. Former U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn stated, “I’ve read every book he’s written and listen to his show routinely. This is simply another form of censorship.” U.S. Senator Ted Cruz sarcastically commented, “Target has built up so much goodwill with conservatives that I’m sure they won’t mind.”
Less than 24 hours later, on July 6, Target reversed course and said that they would indeed carry the book. In a statement to Fox News digital, a company spokesperson said, “As we have with Mark Levin’s past books, many of which are currently available for sale at Target, we’ll offer his newest title for sale when it is available on September 19. The use of the word ‘hate’ in the title caused our team to reach out to the publisher, but as stated, we are continuing to offer this book for pre-sale now, and it will be available for sale on its release date. We regret any confusion this situation caused.”
Target executives were likely wary of igniting more backlash against perceived wokeness by the company following the debacle over the store’s pride month merchandise earlier this year.
Beginning in mid-May, social media users began posting videos of “pride-themed” clothing displays in Target marketed toward everyone from toddlers to adults. The clothing included rainbow onesies for babies, shirts with slogans like “trans rights are human rights” and “trans people exist” for young children, and even “tuck-friendly” swimsuits for males who identify as women and “chest binders” for females who identify as men. Although Target claimed that “tucking” and “binding” products were only for adults, the company’s website showed they came in sizes XS to 4XL, and they were sold alongside other children’s clothing.
Many conservatives called for a boycott of the company, with a rallying cry of turning Target into “Bud Light 2.0.” Amid mounting pressure, many Target locations began removing the pride merchandise or shifting it away from the front of stores – a move which only prompted outrage from trans activists, while largely failing to win back conservative shoppers.
The net result was a plummet in the company’s stock price from which it has yet to recover. On May 17, just before the pride clothing controversy broke into the mainstream, Target traded at $160.69 per share. By June 1, it had fallen to $131.16 per share, and bottomed out at $125.08 on June 12. As of July 26, the price had rebounded slightly to $134.47, but the financial outlook for the company remains clouded as store sales have continued to lag.
Liberal news outlets like CNN have been quick to defend Target, insisting the stock price collapse was due to “broader changes in the U.S. economy,” and that the correlation with the pride month controversy was just a coincidence. But although Target’s stock price had indeed been inching downward for most of this year, the dramatic 20 percent drop over the span of one month casts serious doubt on the theory that the conservative-led boycott had nothing to do with it. Moreover, competitors like Walmart have seen their stock price climb since early June, while Target’s has largely failed to recover.
It’s worth noting that, just a few days before the pride month fiasco began, Target CEO Brian Cornell said “woke capitalism” is “great” for the company’s reputation, stating, “I think those are just good business decisions, and it’s the right thing for society, and it’s the great thing for our brand.” He continued, “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.”
Although conservatives have brought Target to heel in these two cases, whether or not Cornell and other executives have learned their lesson about wokeness remains to be seen.
Neil Banerji is a proud Las Vegas resident and former student at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading Winston Churchill and Edmund Burke.
