Consumers Tell Target: Enough Hate, Enough Politics, Enough Hypocrisy
Targetgate 2010 continues, and as the days and weeks move along, consumers are getting angrier and angrier at the retail giant for not backing down from a $150,000 donation in support of an anti-gay candidate in Minnesota. Worse, as this public relations epic fail has rolled along, numerous reports about Target's CEO, as well as several of Target's senior executives, having deep connections to a crowd of anti-gay politicians has provided fuel to the fire. Weeks after the original story broke, Target is now left with a reputation that makes it look like it's trying to have its cake, and eat it, too.
Meaning that while Target wants the business of progressive customers, they've vowed to continue to contribute to political candidates, even if those candidates have vicious anti-gay views.
That's why this weekend, numerous activists will be pounding the pavement in front of Target stores around the country, making sure that Target customers know where the company's political agenda lies. These demonstrations come on the heels of many other protests held around the country, from Minnesota to California to New York to Massachusetts, where activists have been loud and proud in delivering the meme that Target needs to stop funneling cash to candidates who would keep LGBT people second class citizens.
Check out a PDF flyer at the end of this blog post that's being distributed at Target protests around the country. It's a simple one-pager, but its message packs a punch.
"We have had ENOUGH of any money trail that leads directly from Target, or ANY company, to activists who condone the discrimination against — and KILLING of — gay men and women, under the guise of religion and with the philosophical and financial backing of our elected officials," the flyer reads. "Targetʼs CEO says his companyʼs support of the Gay community 'remains unwavering,' yet he backs a candidate who has a substantiated record of anti-gay political beliefs, including aggressive support of Proposition 8."
Hard to make it any more clearer than that. Meanwhile, some labor rights and immigrant rights groups are making sure that Target hears from their communities. These groups joined a protest outside of Target's Minneapolis headquarters yesterday, pointing out that Target's candidate of choice in the Minnesota gubernatorial race -- Tom Emmer -- has pretty radical positions on immigration (he'd like to see Minnesota enact a law similar to Arizona's SB 1070) and labor issues like the minimum wage (Emmer apparently thinks restaurants servers and waitresses make too much money).
Again, check out the PDF below for a quick flyer. Check out that logo in the PDF, too. Have you had enough from Target, too?
Photo credit: SalvationArmyUSA (Heh. Now there's some irony.)
Michael Jones
is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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