On Tuesday, the new hit rap “Boycott Target” became the number-one song on iTunes, surpassing some of the biggest names in music, such as Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, and Taylor Swift. The rap song, performed by Forgiato Blow and Jimmy Levy, has exploded with popularity since it was released last Thursday, garnering millions of views on social media and the top spot on iTunes.
The song sits on the charts above hits like “Fast Car” by Luke Combs, “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen,” as well as “Hits Different” by Taylor Swift. The song even got a shoutout from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, applauding conservative consumers’ strength and ability to enact financial consequences on woke companies. The music video has racked up millions of views on social media.
American Conservatives are once again showing who has the real buying power.
It’s not the woke mob, they only bully and riot. https://t.co/x490RKdBVA
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 26, 2023
Target’s rollout of pride-themed clothing for children prompted the rap duo to release their new anthem. The rappers slam Target for “targeting kids” and promote the growing boycott of the retailer. As Forgiato Blow said in the caption of his tweet, “Why is #Target Targeting Our Kids?” He adds, “Retweet if you support #BoycottTarget.”
The American Tribune previously reported on the Satanist-designed apparel, which sparked controversy, contributing to the boycott. Abprallen is a U.K.-based clothing line that Target collaborated with in its pride apparel. The clothing brand has made overtly Satanist statements such as “Satan respects your pronouns,” as well as other anti-Christian expressions. The brand expressly states that it incorporates the devil into its designs because of Satan’s apparent support of the LGBT+ community. Furthermore, Target also rolled out “tuck-friendly” female swimsuits that have “extra crotch coverage,” which also led to outrage from consumers.
Target has suffered financial hardship since it decided to offer these woke products in its stores. The American Tribune reported that on Tuesday, May 30th, Target’s stock price dropped nearly 4 percent, translating to a loss of $2.4 billion in market value. Ultimately, this represented an overall loss of over $12.4 billion in Target’s market capitalization since the boycott started. The market value fell from $74 billion to $62 billion. As of the report, Target suffered its worst stock market losing streak since 2018.
Target, doing what any rational company would do when faced with controversy, attempted to scale back the items driving the boycott. However, given how volatile the political issue was, they ended up angering the LGBTQ community and even received bomb threats demanding that the pride displays be restored. They are now faced with angry conservatives who are outright boycotting the store and angry LGBTQ community members threatening the retailer.
This is similar to what happened to Bud Light when the beer attempted to distance itself from its association with Dylan Mulvaney. The move led to the LGBTQ community feeling as if they were abandoned by Bud Light, to which gay bars began refusing to sell the beer.
One would think companies would take one look at the Bud Light fallout and stay away from politics and social issues completely. When a company takes a stake in the culture war, it could alienate a considerable portion of its consumers and anger the rest when trying to mitigate the situation.
Note: Featured image is screenshot from embedded video.
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