In April of last year, Target released a blog post stating their position on the hot button topic of who should be allowed to use which bathrooms. They stated that they encourage and welcome trans employees and shoppers alike to use the restrooms corresponding to their gender identities. In their blog post, they included a picture of the target symbol with half of it turned into a rainbow. Other retailers have similar policies to this but posting its stance publicly is where Target made a mistake; a mistake that quickly became expensive. The post was a response to North Carolina’s legislation on bathroom use (which required transgender people to use bathrooms in government buildings according to the sex on their birth certificates and disallowed laws that prohibited businesses from asking for proof of sex before people used the bathrooms); a post which was not approved by the Chief Executive of Target, Brian Cornell, who would’ve preferred not to flaunt the company’s decision. The day after the post was published a conservative Christian nonprofit called for a boycott on Target. Shortly after, sales started to decline and have continued to decline in every quarter since the blog post.
Although quite a few similar retailers hold the same or similar policies as Target they don’t publicize their policies. National chains such as Target host customers that fill the entirety of the political spectrum and by publishing an article that specifically goes against the beliefs and morals of a good portion of those customers puts them in a tight spot. After polling 2,500 people, nearly ⅔ of people said that businesses should stay out of politics and that “[businesses] should have just left it as, ‘don’t ask, don’t show, don’t tell.’"
Executives within the company expected the backlash to die down, but it didn’t; in fact, traffic in several markets declined considerably. Due to stores going under, especially in the South, Target has set out on a multi-billion-dollar revamp. They plan to invest $7 billion to improve stores, launch exclusive brands, and develop its supply-chain and digital capabilities over the next three years. They also plan to remodel 110 stores in 2017, ⅓ of those stores being in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Their ultimate goal is to come up with ways to win back shoppers without agreeing to demands that Target retract its bathroom policy. These ideas included things like promotions and direct mailings to focus on customers in specific markets and commissioning Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys quarterback, to promote the store.
Target has since learned its lesson and stayed mum on follow ups regarding the North Carolina legislation.
Although quite a few similar retailers hold the same or similar policies as Target they don’t publicize their policies. National chains such as Target host customers that fill the entirety of the political spectrum and by publishing an article that specifically goes against the beliefs and morals of a good portion of those customers puts them in a tight spot. After polling 2,500 people, nearly ⅔ of people said that businesses should stay out of politics and that “[businesses] should have just left it as, ‘don’t ask, don’t show, don’t tell.’"
Executives within the company expected the backlash to die down, but it didn’t; in fact, traffic in several markets declined considerably. Due to stores going under, especially in the South, Target has set out on a multi-billion-dollar revamp. They plan to invest $7 billion to improve stores, launch exclusive brands, and develop its supply-chain and digital capabilities over the next three years. They also plan to remodel 110 stores in 2017, ⅓ of those stores being in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Their ultimate goal is to come up with ways to win back shoppers without agreeing to demands that Target retract its bathroom policy. These ideas included things like promotions and direct mailings to focus on customers in specific markets and commissioning Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys quarterback, to promote the store.
Target has since learned its lesson and stayed mum on follow ups regarding the North Carolina legislation.
I feel as if people are too sensitive about things and feel the need to get offended by everything, but I do agree that Target should have put more thought into the consequences of putting their opinion out there because it is costing them to lose business.
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