Boycotting Target, Part 1: How It Doubled Down on DEI, Then Backed Off

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many U.S. shoppers know Target as a place to get everyday items like groceries and paper towels, as well as clothes and homegoods. But recently some shoppers have stopped buying things at Target as part of boycotts over its pullback from policies around diversity, equity and inclusion. In the first episode of this special What’s News series, host Alex Ossola digs into how Target got here: the company’s history and why shoppers are upset with Target in particular at a moment when many other companies are also changing their DEI policies. In your feed, you can find the second episode of this series, looking into the boycotts’ impact on Target’s business and on those of Black entrepreneurs with products on Target’s shelves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Race the rudder, raise the sails, raise the sales!
0:05.0	Captain, an unidentified ship approaching. Over.
0:07.0	Roger that. Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution?
0:13.0	Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors.
0:17.0	With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more.
0:21.4	To get £100 off your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com slash lead to claim your credit.
0:26.7	That's LinkedIn.com slash lead. Terms and conditions apply.
0:35.4	It's Sunday, May 18th. I'm Alex O'Sullough for the Wall Street Journal.
0:40.2	This is a special episode of What's New Sunday.
0:43.5	On a recent Sunday afternoon, I, along with producer Jess Jupiter, visited a Target store in Brooklyn.
0:49.4	So we're here in Atlantic Terminal, standing in front of the Target.
0:52.6	There are a lot of people coming in and out.
0:54.6	It's Sunday. It's nice out. New Yorkers are happy, and the store is kind of hopping.
0:59.8	I say it's booming. Yeah. All right. All right. Let's go check it out. Let's go.
1:04.8	We took a walk around the store to get a sense of what was going on. People were waiting to
1:09.4	try on clothes and grabbing seasonal items for Easter.
1:13.1	Near the registers, we did,
1:14.5	my favorite thing,
1:15.7	looking into people's carts to check out their hall.
1:18.4	Organization, cleaning.
1:21.3	Snacks.
1:22.3	Snacks, yeah.
	...

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