Target Sued Over DEI
Newsweek sought email comment from Target on Tuesday.The case stems from a major consumer backlash against Target's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative and feeds into a wider debate about diversity policies.Target displayed pro-LGBT items in May, 2023, and removed any reference to Target's toys being for boys or girls.
This led to a conservative backlash and consumer boycott.Target is now facing a class action lawsuit from investors who lost money on its shares.
This follows a major drop in Target's share price after the boycott.The complaint was filed in a Florida court on January 31 by the City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund, which is seeking others to join the class action lawsuit.The complaint accuses Target CEO Brian Cornell of failing to properly disclose the risks of consumer boycotts stemming from the company's DEI programs.The case has been marked as related to a similar lawsuit taken by Target shareholder, Brian Craig, in the same court in Florida in August, 2024.On January 24, Target ended its DEI program, as well as a separate initiative to support Black-owned businesses that it had launched in 2020.It is one of many corporations abandoning DEI policies amid a conservative backlash.High-profile companies such as McDonald's, Walmart, Ford, Harley-Davidson and John Deere have recently reduced or phased out their DEI commitments.The Trump administration opposes DEI policies.
Upon returning to office on January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle federal DEI programs.Brian Craig's lawsuit, related to the latest one taken by the Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund, quotes a Bloomberg article in stating that Target is the store of the "boomer mom who drives a minivan and lives in the suburbs."Craig's lawsuit says Target directors "betrayed both Target's core customer base of working families and its investors by making false and misleading statements concerning Target's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).
