Your Guide to the Target Boycott
Queercents is not going to get political here. At least, I’m not a fan of being political. I like to stick to the old wisdom that you should never discuss religion or politics unless you want to make quick enemies. But at the same time, the Target boycott is pretty hard to ignore. So rather than stay out of it, here’s your definitive guide to what happened, and the consumer decisions you make.
Matt Baume of the SFist posted an article about Target’s donation of $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, a Republican group that supports Tom Emmer. Tom Emmer is a Republican who is running for governor of Minnesota, so that is a big deal. Tom Emmer is also a supporter of a Christian rock group from his ministry known as You Can Run But You Cannot Hide. The frontman of that group, Bradlee Dean, has made some questionable comments about gays, including supporting the actions of Muslim countries that execute homosexuals.
To don the skeptic’s hat, though, Target is likely not supportive of Dean’s comments. Being a business, Target supports the Republican governor for his lenient business stance compared to that of most Democrats. Let’s be fair to Emmer here too; although he supports Dean’s group, to tie his comments to Emmer is ridiculously unfair. It is as unfair as saying that all Republicans are like Ann Coulter just because they invite her to events. That dimension of the boycott is unfair, as it is merely guilt by association.
Here’s a further complication. According to the HRC, Target received a 100 on its index of gay-friendly businesses. Target is more progressive than virtually any other retailer out there, going so far as to offer even transgender-inclusive healthcare, partner coverage, an employer-supported employee resource group, and provides diversity training. Aside from this donation, Target has been nothing but supportive of the gay community and been quite a booster.
By contrast, Men’s Wearhouse, Office Depot, Radio Shack, Walmart, AutoZone, Meijer, and even Minnesota-based Regis Corp. all score significantly lower, ranging from a middling 68 down to a questionable 20 on the index. The question here is why are we currently boycotting a business that has had a 100 with HRC (although this latest action may bring them to an 85) while Walmart enjoys top position on the Fortune 500 and a dismal score of 40? Target, by the way, is only 31 on the Fortune 500 list. Walmart’s market cap is $190 billion as of this writing, while Target sits at $38 billion.
In summary, this boycott is currently lead due to Target’s funding of a campaign for Minnesota’s next governor, who supports a group whose leader has made questionable comments. Is the boycott fair or effective?
Don’t expect to find answers here. This is just your guide to the boycott. The answers are up to you, readers. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Thanks for the notice. I grew up as a union brat and a lot of times boycotts are useful but many times they are not and they lessen the value of them when we really need them. I think I will still go to target (won’t go to walmart though).
I will never step foot in WalMart again. If I have to boycott Target, too, where will I shop!?
This isn’t a “guide to the boycott”; it’s a couple of grafs explaining why the connection isn’t direct. Thank you for them in any case.
I really liked this blog post. I am sick to death of the “Boycott Target/Best Buy/McDonalds/Life” groups.
Everyone is homophobic by association, it is like the 6 degrees of queer bashing.
@Ginger: I agree. I fall on the side of paying for continual good behavior rather than punishing a gaffe.
@Jessica: I’m not sure. Heck, living in NYC, I can’t even tell you where I get everything…
@turingcub: Thank you for clarifying. I guess guide to the boycott sounded better than grafs explaining indirect connection though.
@Austin: Capitalism as a means of activism can be powerful, but it’s wise to choose one’s battles. I was hoping this post would help with that! And you have a good point–business is business, politics is politics, and religion is religion. It’s best to not let the chocolate mix with the peanut butter too much there, as they tend to get all muddled when it comes to identity politics.
So I am curious…. what is your idea of a few “questionable comments?” Do you even know what he actually said?
The tone in your commentary is what harm can a company do… have you ever heard of a company called IN N Out and Prop 8 in California… but go ahead, call it no big deal. (Again, you didn’t say anything, but the tone said everything).
@Russ: I appreciate your feedback, but there’s no tone beyond attempting to be neutral. You can interpret it however you like, but I did not intend bias one way or the other.
As for his comments, I mentioned that he found it admirable that Muslim countries execute gays. As to whether that was taken out of context, a joke in poor taste, or a genuine feeling, that remains to be seen. But even if he said that he wanted to see the mass execution of gays and lesbians, it would still be guilt by association.
Thanks for the clarification, Clint. If I had to give up Target, I might die. Just kidding . . . OK, no I’m not.
Regardless of whether or not one decides to boycott, it would be a good idea to send Target an e-note telling them that you support gay rights and that you do pay attention to how companies respond.
Here’s the link to Target’s “contact us”…it’s a bit hard to find on their website…
http://www.target.com/gp/help/display-contact-us-form.html?displayLink=tci
MS, that is a great point. I think that’s definitely a great course of action.
The overall rating is more important- everyone makes mistakes. From what I have read, it was a pro-business contribution, not an anti-gay contribution.
While I agree that the boycott against Target may be a knee-jerk reaction and that there are many other places to focus a boycott…this article does not address that Target it one of the first corporations to donate to a campaign following the Supreme Court’s decision and have it cause a public outcry. Making it a prime example of the outcome from recent court decisions. The act of the contribution is as much the reason for a boycott as the beliefs of the politician and corporation. A new era of political pay-offs has begun.
Nice to see the sight back.
Anyway not being a Target shopper…frankly the nearest store is a bit out of the way for me…you can say I’ve always boycotted it.
Now as for the stupidity displayed by Target…actually by those who advise on corporate donations….while the polititian they gave the money to might be the most able to bring more jobs to the state offending a sizeable portion of your customers and employees is not the way to do it.
This has shown that the Supreme Court ruling allowing allowing such contributions is a sword with TWO very sharp edges.
~ Roland
Just came across this article. I am the woman who made the you tube video … not sure if you saw it. I am from Minnesota. I decided to boycott Target after I tried repeatedly to talk to people at Target headquarters… always getting the “we can only take a message” and then one day coming home to a message on my phone asking me not to call Target headquarters anymore. I felt I must do something to get their attention so I did the video. Target gave $150,000 to MN Forward– a group working to get Tom Emmer elected. Tom Emmer is our most anti-gay legislator who is now the Republican candidate for Governor. People outside of Minnesota don’t realize how hard Minnesota is working to see equality for our gay community or all the facts that went into the boycott. We could be the next state to have marriage equality. We have a Democrat candidate running for governor who will fight for marriage equality and then we have Tom Emmer who will veto any legislation that supports any messure dealing with equality. He has a terrible record in the legislature. The $150,000 was only the first donation Target was slated to give. There were some reports MN Forward was hoping to get a million from Target. We had to do all we could to stop this landslide of cash going to elect the most anti-gay candidate running for governor. As people looked at the situation at Target, they realized that the CEO and several of the top executives were giving the max to people like Michele Bachmann and to Prop 8 in California. We also heard that many feel the atmosphere at Target has changed since they took over. With the new Supreme Court ruling we realized that corporations now have the power to really influence an election and Target was leading the way. That new corporate power is terrifying and we needed to address that as well as who they were backing with this first use of that power. With those executives in place, the money Target would give would always be supporting people we wouldn’t want elected. I hope people realize that we can make a difference where we shop. For me, Target used to be an easy stop to pick up things I needed and I felt good knowing they supported the gay community in their workplace. Today I see the Target bullseye and I feel sad Target executives have tainted that brand with their power to try to buy the Minnesota governor race supporting a man who would do all in his power to deny gay people their rights. There are pleny of places to shop besides WalMart and Target. I have enjoyed finding independently owned stores … the ones hurt most when those big box stores came to town. We must stop corporations from buying elections and in Minnesota we must make sure Tom Emmer is not elected.
Randi, one small contention–when patronizing small local stores, it is hard to see their stance on gay issues, and shopping there may actually mean supporting someone who supports or votes against you anyway. The one nice thing about shopping corporate, at the very least, is seeing all their information splayed out publicly so you can be a conscientious shopper.
Lately, I’ve rediscovered shopping at Sears for clothes that I would normally get at Target. The selection and store brands are actually quite identical to Kohl’s and Target, but cheaper. Sears also has a good HRC score. Still not a big fan of Kmart though.
The billionaires are all together in strangling the middle class so they can A) be free to take the jobs to China B) get gigantic tax breaks for doing so. I stopped shopping at Target (used to love them), but you have to boycott everything (or at least think twice before replacing an item). It is impossible to find things not manufactured in China, but if we refuse to buy until absolutely necessary you can cut down a lot. You can also refuse to buy crap (i.e. doorbusters, digital picture frames, novelty items etc.).
However, I have never shopped Walmart. In my book they are the most responsible for the complete breakdown of society.