New York (CNN) — Target is facing a 40-day consumer boycott that kicked off Wednesday over the company’s shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
“We’re asking people to divest from Target because they have turned their back on our community,” Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch pastor who started the boycott, said in an interview with CNN.
The boycott, which began during the start of Lent, comes more than a month after Target made changes to its DEI programs and at a difficult period for the company as it faces an onslaught of tariffs in the middle of a challenging economy.
On January 24, days into Donald Trump’s presidency, Target announced it was eliminating hiring goals for minority employees, ending an executive committee focused on racial justice and making other changes to its diversity initiatives. Target said it had a new strategy called “Belonging at the Bullseye,” which it first introduced last year, and the company remained committed to “creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests and communities.” Target also stressed the need for “staying in step with the evolving external landscape.”
Target is one of dozens of Fortune 500 companies that have backtracked on DEI in response to conservative court decisions, pressure from activists and right-wing legal groups, and, more recently, the Trump administration’s threats to investigate what it characterizes as “illegal DEI,” including potential criminal cases against companies. Companies are caught between pursuing efforts to increase diversity and avoiding a conservative legal crackdown.
But no company has faced as fierce a blowback from DEI supporters as Target. Customers online have protested the decision and Anne and Lucy Dayton, the daughters of one of Target’s co-founders, called the company’s actions “a betrayal.”
Target is under more pressure than companies like Walmart, John Deere or Tractor Supply, because Target went further in its DEI efforts, and it has a more progressive base of customers than those competitors.
Target was a leading advocate for DEI programs in the business world in the years after George Floyd was murdered by police in the company’s home city of Minneapolis in 2020. Target also spent years building a public reputation as a progressive employer on LGBTQ issues.
“Black people spend upwards of $12 million dollars a day, and so we would expect some loyalty, some decency and some camaraderie,” Bryant said.
Melissa Butler, the CEO of the Lip Bar, one of the largest Black-owned makeup companies carried in Target, said on TikTok that she was disappointed about Target’s DEI pullback. But she worries that the boycott could hurt Black-owned businesses.
“We don’t want these minority businesses to suffer or to be impacted negatively,” she said.
Target declined to comment to CNN about the boycott. A spokesperson for Target said the company is still committed to inclusivity and offers a wide range of products and services, including items that are owned by Black and minority vendors.
But there are already signs that the blowback from Target’s move is impacting the company.
Customer visits to Target, Walmart and Costco have slowed over the last four weeks, but they have dropped the most at Target, according to Placer.ai., which uses phone location data to track visits. The slowdown could also be attributed to weather, economic conditions and other variables, Placer.ai cautioned.
The data “shows a clear drop in traffic in late January into mid-February following the company’s step back from DEI,” Joseph Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said in a note to clients last week.
The boycott also comes as Target faces pressure from tariffs and a consumer pullback. Target said Tuesday its sales declined in February and it expects sales to only grow around 1% this year.
Target CEO Brian Cornell said in an interview with CNBC Tuesday that Trump’s tariffs on Mexico may force the company to raise prices on fruits and vegetables as soon as this week. Target also said that “tariff uncertainty” will impact its profit this quarter.
Cornell said Target relies heavily on Mexican produce imports during the winter. “Those are categories where we’ll try to protect pricing, but the consumer will likely see price increases over the next couple of days,” he said.
CNN’s Ryan Young and Jason Morris contributed to this article.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated where Melissa Butler, the CEO of the Lip Bar, spoke about the Target boycott. It was posted on TikTok.
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