Target's Major Disconnect With Its Shoppers, and Why a Boycott Could Be Effective

A few years ago, several research firms decided to look at the political habits of customers of the nation's largest retail outlets. Among the stores they focused on? Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's, and JCPenney. What did they find?

Well, it was August 2008, just before the Obama/McCain presidential election. Turns out that if you shopped at Wal-Mart or JCPenney, you were much more likely to vote for McCain; if you shopped at Target or Macy's, you were much more likely to vote for Obama.

Perhaps that doesn't indicate all that much, given that both Wal-Mart and JCPenney are headquartered in some of the reddest states in the union (Arkansas and Texas, respectively) and have a business plan that certainly puts their locations in more seemingly conservative areas of the country. Target and Macy's, meanwhile, are headquartered in blue Minnesota and purple Ohio, and generally find themselves opening up stores in more urban, Democratic areas (flagship Macy's stores, after all, are in the more progressive hubs of New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles).

So let's go back even a few more years, to 2006, to a Business Week article that profiled how politicians were using consumer data to find out who might be their target voting audience. Conveniently, the article drew a comparison between Wal-Mart shoppers and Target shoppers.

"A Wal-Mart stores shopper is likely to be socially conservative, pro-gun, and exurban or rural," the Business Week article explains. "A Target regular is an independent-minded, style-conscious, cost-conscious suburbanite. That makes Target customers 'the sort of voters who are at play in swing states,' says Steven E. Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College."

Perhaps Target should have gone back and re-read this article before making a $150,000 donation to a fringe candidate for governor in Minnesota, Tom Emmer, who harbors anti-gay views and has supported anti-gay ministries so extreme, they place him far beyond the 'swing,' 'moderate,' or 'independent' positions of the average Target consumer. And that's a recipe for disaster.

Target is now bearing the brunt of a sustained protest from gay rights and progressive groups that may just make the company the 21st century version of Coors Brewing. Protests have popped up inside and outside of Target stores around the country, and tomorrow (Thursday), a Target-sponsored fashion show in New York City is going to see a protest. Folks are now looking at how to move beyond just a protest, and really shame Target for abandoning its LGBT customers, and becoming a poster child for companies that want to buy elections via corporate donations. That could include requests to Target designers and contractors, to get them to condemn Target's anti-gay political behavior.

MoveOn, for their part, is also hammering Target. They plan to launch a $35,000 ad-buy in Minnesota urging consumers to boycott the company until Target commits to keeping corporate money out of politics.

A look at Target's consumer profile -- "independent-minded, style-conscious, cost-conscious suburbanite" -- means that this call could be quite effective. That means that the average Target shopper is one who will take a moment to study the nuance of Target's political behavior, see if it matches up with their own values, and perhaps make a conscious decision to boycott the company. Not all potential customers will, of course, but that doesn't mean that they won't process what all this controversy means.

The end result is that even among customers who will still frequent the store, Target will be forever known as a company that (a) sold its gay consumers out for a chance to buy a political candidate, and (b) refused to acknowledge (like corporate giant Goldman-Sachs has) that corporate money might no belong in politics. That is, at least until Target attempts to make things right.

But it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. Target abandoned talks with the Human Rights Campaign yesterday, and they've refused to speak with reporters or progressive activists about their corporate donations, brushing journalists off with referrals to a web site. That type of behavior isn't going to win the company many friends.

It's also worth nothing that while this controversy brews, Target stands to lose big time, at least when it comes to opening up stores in new markets. That includes in San Francisco, where two Target shopping centers are now in jeopardy because of the company's anti-gay political behavior.

"San Francisco is the epicenter of the LBGT rights movement. And Target's behavior nationally seems to subvert, or act inconsistent with, what's important to San Francisco values," San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi told National Public Radio.

In other words, Target is in it deep here. It did something that offends a healthy chunk of its consumer base, and it's refused to apologize. That, coupled with a renewed sense of activism around the issue of keeping corporate money out of elections, spells disaster for the company ... especially if it's going to be unwilling to speak with or work with allies in the LGBT or progressive community.

Photo credit: Boycott Target Facebook Page