Pro-DEI organizers fired up to maintain Target boycott as promises go unfulfilled

Organizers of a Target boycott that began in January are pointing to their tactics as a hopeful sign that actions against corporate retailers can still make a deep impact.

When Target announced its current chief executive officer will be stepping down in February 2026 and an insider was taking the helm, those organizers saw it as a move in the right direction and stress more than ever that boycotts will continue as long as previous promises made to the public go unfulfilled.

“It’s been now nearly 200 days and what all the statistics and economics are showing that since that boycott was announced on that Monday — every single week since then — Target foot traffic in nearly 2,000 stores has declined sharply and continues to decline,” said organizer Jaylani Hussein, at a news conference of the National Target Boycott movement outside Target’s Minneapolis headquarters late last week.

Boycott organizers in Minnesota were among some of the first to galvanize when Target opted in January to follow other companies like Amazon and Walmart and forego diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. High-profile civil rights activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jamal Bryant also made similar calls for what they deemed a betrayal of previous DEI promises.

Social justice advocates say this shows boycotting is a key tactic not to be taken for granted.

Retail analysts say it’s difficult to gauge the exact impact of the boycott, since Target has faced a slump the last few years and a leadership change was in the cards. Still, groups like Washington-based DC Boycott Target Coalition insist falling foot traffic is “due in no small part” to a boycott that spans coast to coast.

“The leadership change doesn’t mean anything without a culture change,” the group said in a statement, vowing to continue pressuring Target until the corporation sees its diversity goals as “more important than bowing to an administration that is filled with racism, failure and hatred.”

Opponents began the national boycott in February, during Black History Month. Their strategy left some Black-owned brands with merchandise on Target shelves conflicted or scrambling.

By April, Sharpton actually met with Target’s CEO Brian Cornell, who had been at the helm for 11 years. But, nothing concrete came of it.

Target CEO change was long planned

Cornell’s departure from the role had been in the works for several years.

In September 2022, the board extended Cornell’s contract for three more years and eliminated a policy requiring its chief executives to retire at age 65. When Target’s chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke takes over, Cornell will transition to be executive chair of the board.

In a call with reporters, Fiddelke attributed the sales malaise to many issues like focusing too much on basics and not enough trendy items, particularly in home goods.

Data shows Target sales were already sliding

Stacey Widlitz, president of investment research firm SW Retail Advisors, said she believes that Target’s sales malaise has more to do with its operational issues — messy stores and poorly stocked shelves — not from its pullback from DEI initiatives.

Unraveling them did not affect Target “exponentially compared to somebody else,” she said. “The consumer has a very short memory. If you have great, compelling product at value prices, they’ll forgive you.”

The number of Americans who say they regularly shop at Target has gone down 19% since 2021, according to Consumer Edge. The number of Americans who say they do not shop at Target has risen 17%.

The same analysis also looked at trends along party lines. Since last year, the number of regular Target shoppers who identify as Democrat has declined 13%. Inversely, the number of Republican customers has risen 13%. It’s not clear if that is due to Target’s $1 million donation to Trump’s inauguration or some other factors.

Organizers are sticking to boycott strategy

The strategy of racial justice boycotts stretches back over 160 years, from Reconstruction era “Buy Black” campaigns stressing the Black American economic influence to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of the Civil Rights Movement. There have been more modern campaigns like the NAACP’s 15-year economic boycott of the state of South Carolina over its display of the confederate battle flag widely regarded as a symbol of hatred and slavery. The civil rights group ended its boycott in 2015 after the state removed the flag from its statehouse grounds, following the massacre of nine Black parishioners at a historic African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston.

Some Black creators on the social media platform TikTok rejoiced on the platform at the CEO leaving and credited the boycotts. Others cautioned that Cornell was essentially promoted but that the boycott is still needed.

Black Americans’ buying power has climbed over the last 25 years and is now an estimated $2.1 trillion annually, according to Nielsen research.

Part of the reason organizers say they have zeroed in on Target is because the company had heavily touted a commitment to DEI back in 2020 after protests erupted across the nation over the murder of George Floyd. That year, Target announced it would increase representation of Black staff by 20% over three years and invest $10 million in social justice organizations. In 2021, the company pledged to dedicate more than $2 billion toward Black-owned businesses before the end of 2025.

In January, however, Target said it would conclude the hiring and advancement goals it had set.

For boycott organizers, a reversal of those decisions is the only way to rectify the situation.

“We’re expecting that Target is making good on the promises that it made. Otherwise there’s no point of discussion regarding calling off this boycott,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and past president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. “We’re asking people to join us, get involved and hold Target accountable for its actions.”

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AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.