Target, the woke retailer formerly loved by suburban moms around the country, just experienced a painful stock market correction, seeing a $9 billion decrease in its market cap amid consumer backlash over both a women’s swimsuit marketed as being “tuck friendly” and a Pride collection designed by an apparent Satanist.
How bad was that stock market correction? Over the course of just a week, Target’s stock price declined from $160.96 to $141.76, as the New York Post reported, saying that Target’s market capitalization fell in the weeks following the boycott disaster from about $74.3 billion to $65.3 billion, a crushing loss for the company of $9 billion, or 12%. That fall has gotten worse, with the retailer losing about $15 billion in market cap.
The Daily Wire, reporting on the Satanist designer and the pride collection that caused quite the stir, noted that Abrallen’s Target gear included slogans like “We Belong Everywhere,” a tote bag with the phrase “Too Queer For Here,” and a sweatshirt saying “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People.” It was Abrpallen’s other products, however, that caused the bigger problem. Those, not sold for Target but designed by the same brand, were Satanist in theme and said things like “Satan Respects Pronouns” and “Trans Witches For Abortion.” Naturally, people were upset by those items and with Target for partnering with that brand.
Abrpallen’s website, commenting on Satanism, said, “Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean. So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love. So, naturally, Satan respects pronouns. He loves all LGBT+ people.”
Why did @target hire a Satanist to design pieces for their recent "Pride" clothing line?
WTF👉🏽"Satan loves you and respects who you are… LGBTQIA+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God's will, so fine. We'll hang with Satan instead." pic.twitter.com/FLsNZNzHNa
— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) May 20, 2023
The “tuck friendly” women’s swimsuit also caused the original Target stir and hope among conservatives to make it the next Bud Light. Target’s market cap has sunk like a rock, but it remains to be seen if a boycott actually leads to a painfully large number of lost sales for the company or if it instead just is some temporary drama that the company is able to brush off, as numerous woke brands have done in the past.
But there are some indications that anti-Target sentiment is here to stay. Commenting on the swimsuit and what it represents, Oli London, author of “Gender Madness” and a frequent commenter on such issues, said: “Target is just the latest brand that has gone woke and made an ill-fated decision to alienate its customer base by pushing gender ideology into the faces of consumers. Only 0.6% of the population identify as trans so why is Target pushing these swimwear costumes with ‘tuck friendly’ designs and selling them in prime locations in their stores? The majority of men and Target customers do not want to ‘tuck’ their penis into a women’s swimming costume. I’m sure most men would find this uncomfortable and emasculating to say the very least.”
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