Target Learns What Happens When you FAFO in Minnesota

February 2, 2025
HANK ORSO

As many of you have probably heard by now, Target, until recently a bastion of racial and LGBTQ+ support and equity, announced last Friday that it had made the surprising decision to drop its DEI initiatives. Bowing to pressures from the current administration, Target issued a memo last week highlighting what they now plan not to do while couching it all in corporate-speak of "growth" and "moving forward."

Throughout 2025 we will be accelerating action in key areas and implementing changes with the goal of driving growth and staying in step with the evolving external landscape. We will continue to monitor and adjust as needed.

To which I can only say

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Goose step is more like it, and you can read "adjust as needed" to mean "if the political landscape shifts in four years, we'll go back to welcoming the Gays and Blacks again."

Well, it seems that Minnesota's largest Pride organization is helping Target to shut up. Target, which has been a sponsor of Twin Cities Pride for a couple of decades, a company that has often received a perfect score of 100 on Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Quality Index, has had its 50K pledge for 2025 rejected by Twin Cities Pride.

As reported in The Advocate: "TCP executive director Andi Otto (said) that Target executives called him before their announcement, as they 'wanted me to hear it from them before it had hit mainstream media.' The company insisted that 'they were still very much committed to being at Pride and very much committed to sponsoring and continuing to support our year-round programming.'" As Otto further explained, "This isn't about the money, because if the money wasn't there, would we even be questioning this decision? The answer is no. The reality of it is, is that it's the right thing to do for our community."

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And it turns out the money is very much there! By Wednesday of this week, more than 100K has been offered up in private donations and from other companies coming forward to fill the gap. More than twice what Target was offering. This, as The Advocate points out, speaks to the ongoing discussion about "Rainbow Capitalism," the yearly push rolling into June for companies to cater to the queer community out of economic desire and not necessarily out of a sense of true, deep support. If your company fades away and dismantles its rainbow displays come July, where is the support and why should we continue to purchase? Incidentally, Target, after battling hate-driven resistance to their queer-themed merch and displays, scaled back such marketing to a noticeable degree in 2023.

Should we boycott Target now? Well, according to Otto, that's a personal choice and not one he's asking us to make. "I'm not asking you to boycott Target — I'm asking you to make the best decision for your family. Companies see this and realize that this is going to cause people to really start selecting where they're gonna shop."