People are calling Target the next Bud Light as parents and conservatives boycott the former mom-favorite store over inappropriate Pride displays directed at children. In one week, the company lost $9 billion in market capitalizaton, plummeting to its lowest stock prices in a year.

Target’s stock dropped to a 52-week low on Friday, reaching just $137.16 a share. That’s down 16% in the past month. The dramatic tumble started last week when social media exploded with upset parents calling out Target for its prominently displayed LGBT children’s clothing.

Hundreds of photos and videos flooded social media platforms showing Target’s “Pride” displays, which were front and center. They included stacks of rainbow-themed clothing and accessories, including baby onesies and toddler clothes.

One of the most controversial aspects of the display was a “tuck-friendly” swimsuit for men who identify as women. Target has claimed that these trans-friendly swimsuits are only for adults, but many people have pointed out that tweens and teens often wear adult sizes:

So @target is claiming that the “tuck-friendly” bathing suits were only for adults. Look at where @SarahPPerry found them. In the kids/teen area of the store. Right next to child mannequins. Sizing for teens is not always different from adults. But it can still be stocked for teens in the teen area.

Last week, reports surfaced that Target was having internal emergency meetings to deal with customer backlash. Some store locations were reportedly told by corporate to move Pride displays to the back of the store. But this hasn’t satisfied customers.

Good morning to everyone except Target execs, who think hiding the sexualized clothing for kids at the back of the store will somehow trick people into going back to their stores…

 

Enjoy your $9 billion loss.

Target has found itself in a sticky situation, risking anger from both its conservative customers and LGBT activists. The media and left-leaning celebrities have reacted with agony and disdain.

Television actress Rachelle Lefevre posted a tearful video reacting to the Pride display being moved to the back of the store. She said her 7-year-old, who is “nonbinary,” will feel “erased” by seeing the display moved.

Thirsty, out of work, actress Rachelle Lefevre claims her SEVEN year old is non-binary and can’t return to @Target for a month or else he’ll see the Satan loving designer bulge-suits have been moved🤣 these people are insane. Way to go “terrorists” for making noise.

Over on MSNBC, Economics Professor Justin Wolfers called the Target boycott “economic terrorism.” Saying conservatives are “forcing corporations” to sell the things they want. NBC News reporter Ben Collins added that the Target outrage is relegated to those who are “terminally online.” Saying anyone who is upset with Target’s woke exhibition “can’t process stuff in the real world.”

Despite the media’s dismissive commentary, many of the people calling Target on the carpet are moms and with young kids. They’re expressing their unhappiness with what has famously been the store of choice for many millennial women.

Filmmaker Robby Starbuck, tweeted that conservative men spearheaded the recent Bud Light boycott. And women will now be the drivers of a cultural pushback against Target.

The BudLight boycott was so successful because men are the primary customers and we made it socially unacceptable for other men to drink it. Women must do the same thing to Target now by telling friends they won’t shop there because Target pushed trans products onto little kids.

Another group that’s opposing Target is anti-woke gays. Gays Against Groomers, a nonprofit organization fighting leftist LGBT activism tweeted:

BREAKING: @Target has lost $9 BILLION since we all called for a boycott against them for pushing LGBTQ+ clothing and products on children.

 

NINE. BILLION. DOLLARS.

 

We will no longer allow these companies to pervert our youth and groom them into the Gender Cult!

 

#GaysAgainstGroomers

Others brought up reminders of the media’s reaction to entire Target stores being destroyed during Black Lives Matter riots a few years ago.

Leftist Logic 101: Conservatives boycotting Target = hateful, violent, threatening, extremism. 

 

Leftists destroying Target = peaceful protest and changing the world for the better 👇🏻

The current controversy bears a lot of similarities to recent Anheuser-Busch fallout over sponsoring transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. More than a month into the conservative Bud Light boycott, Anheuser-Busch, which owns Bud Light, is offering beer for free because they can’t sell it.

Anheuser-Busch’s stock is also at 6-month lows, dropping its market cap by more than $15 billion. But despite potential fears about suffering a similar fate, Target is attempting to straddle the cultural line.
In a letter to employees, Target CEO Brian Cornell said, “This has been a very hard day for Target, and it follows many difficult days of deliberation and decision-making.”

Target has stated its actions to move Pride displays were done for employee safety. But the retailer has not walked-back any of the cultural stances that conservatives are protesting.

Cornell’s letter continued, expressing support for the gay “Pride” agenda:

To the LGBTQIA+ community, one of the hardest parts in all of this was trying to contemplate how the adjustments we're making to alleviate these threats to our team's physical and psychological safety would impact you and your wellbeing and psychological safety. We stand with you now and will continue to do so - not just during Pride Month, but each and every day.

But those who have spoken out against Target’s merchandise choices are not satisfied. Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham tweeted, “They think you're going to forget and move on in a few days.”

And Daily Wire host Matt Walsh tweeted:

I think this Target boycott has real staying power. Target has now branded itself as a far left organization, to the point where it’s embarrassing to shop there. This is the branding that makes the boycott stick. It happened to Bud Light. I think it’s happening to Target.

Image Credit: Phillip Pessar used under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0.