Target is pulling Pride merchandise after receiving customer backlash

Madison Selcho
·2 min read
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A worker collects shopping carts in the parking lot of a Target store on June 9, 2021, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers.

Target announced plans to pull some of its Pride month merchandise after backlash from customers and threats to employees.

Why is Target pulling Pride merchandise? NBC News reported that a Target spokesperson said in a statement about the pull, “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work.”

The spokesperson continued saying, “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.”

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What LGBTQ merchandise is Target removing? Reuters reported that despite Target not making an official statement of what items will be removed, some of the items that have received negative attention are:

  • Mugs labeled as “gender fluid.”

  • LGBTQ books for children aged 2-8 such as “Bye Bye Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3” and “I’m not a girl.”

  • “Queer all year” calendars.

USA Today reported that other items that were reportedly drawing negative attention included women’s swimsuits that are “tuck friendly” to “allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal male genitals.”

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Details to note: Bud Light had a similar experience to Target after featuring a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, in a promotional campaign earlier this year, according to the National Review.

“We call our customers ‘guests,’ there is outrage on their part. This year, it is just exponentially more than any other year,” a Target insider told Fox News. “I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation.”

Newsweek reported that founder and CEO of public relations and marketing agency Zen Media, Shama Hyder said that companies should abide to the rule of “knowing your audience.”

“Bud Light tried to do what every other brand is doing rather than stay true to their core audience,” Hyder said and continued saying that it was the company’s fault for, “not managing their PR and public perception correctly.”