Target Is the Latest Proof—Going Woke Means Going Broke | Opinion
Target CEO Brian Cornell described his company's diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in mid-May, when conservatives objecting to flamboyantly pro-LGBTQ+ merchandise declared a boycott of the low-end retailer.
Within just 10 days of Cornell's statement, Target lost $10 billion, watched its stock price fall daily, and proved yet again that going woke means going broke.Suffering an unmitigated sales and public relations disaster, Target removed some of the offensive merchandise—which included "tuck-friendly" swimwear—and moved other items to more discreet parts of its stores, walking back the supposed wisdom of marketing to a marginal fringe that advocates a radical gender ideology most Americans reject.Target, of course, is not alone.
Just before its debacle, Anheuser-Busch's beer brand Bud Light cost its parent company more than $15 billion and over 23 percent of its stock valuation in just six weeks after it employed transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney to promote its product.
Nike and Maybelline, companies for which Mulvaney also recently did promotions, were likewise targeted for boycotts—by feminists who objected to a biological male modeling women's sports bras and cosmetics.
