Boycotting Target, Part 2: Is Its Business Paying a Price?

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After Target rolled back its goals around diversity, equity and inclusion, several organizers across the U.S. launched boycotts. In the second episode of this special What’s News series, we zoom in on the boycotts’ potential impact on Target’s business and on those of Black entrepreneurs with products on Target’s shelves. Host Alex Ossola and producer Jess Jupiter travel to Atlanta to see how one boycott, Target Fast, is going, and what things are like at one Bullseye Black Market for Black entrepreneurs. And we consider how effective boycotts are at pushing companies to change. In your feed, you can find the first episode of this series, looking into Target’s history and why shoppers are upset with the company at a time when many other businesses are also changing their DEI policies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void?
0:05.0	Well, with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers.
0:09.0	You can even target them by job title, industry, company, role, seniority, skills, company revenue, and...
0:16.0	Did I say job title yet?
0:17.0	Get started today and see how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with
0:21.4	LinkedIn ads. To get 100 pounds of your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com slash lead to claim
0:27.2	your credit. Terms and conditions apply. I'm Alex Osala. This is What's New Sunday, and this is part
0:34.2	two of our special series about Target and the boycotts against its business.
0:39.0	In our last episode, we talked about how the company got here, about how Target made inclusivity an important part of its brand,
0:46.7	and why some shoppers felt upset when the company seemed to go back on that.
0:51.3	In this episode, we dig deeper into the boycotts against Target. We look into
0:55.8	whether they may have an impact on the company's bottom line, and we talk to black entrepreneurs
1:00.6	who sell their goods at Target and tell us how they fared. So, when Target changed its
1:08.8	diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in January, it made some shoppers unhappy.
1:14.6	We reached out to Target for a comment on this series, and they responded with the following written statement.
1:20.1	We are absolutely dedicated to fostering inclusivity for everyone, our team members, our guests, and our supply partners.
1:29.0	To do that, we're focusing on what we do best, providing the best retail experience for the more than 2,000 communities
1:33.6	we're proud to serve. In the week's following Target's DEI rollback, several organizers from
1:39.2	around the U.S. announced boycotts against Target. One came from a church outside Atlanta.
1:45.7	In the season of Lent, which is the 40 days leading up to Easter, our church is going to be in a fast.
1:56.0	A 40 days of consistent prayer.
1:59.9	I am calling for a 40 day fast from Target.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 6 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.