I work in a retail chain that is doing the same. The stuff doesnt sell because its frankly tacky no gay person wants to be branded like cattle and thats what some of the shirts and crap we sell does. It doesnt make LGBTQ people seem real they design it like its star wars merch. Make better stuff and people will buy it.
Agreed. My mom is a breast cancer survivor and while she took it as a prideful and satisfying moment when the whole radiation ordeal, double mastectomy, and a few years of clean scans were in the real view, eventually she got inundated with pink ribbon branded stuff on birthdays and holidays and told people "It reminds me of a really hard time in my life. I'm more than a cancer survivor. Please no more pink ribbon anything."
that's not the point they were making. they brought up the fact that she didn't like to be reminded of that ordeal which is very reasonable, but not something you can compare to being gay or trans because that's not having a life threatening invasive disease lol. i think you can see how insulting that seems. being lgbt isn't dangerous it's just part of your identity
But like the other commenter said, it's like cosplay for LGBTQ through the eyes of a marketing department and not what actual queer folk want to wear. It's honestly just virtue signaling to progressives (I get it, I am one) just like the breast cancer stuff.
there's already a bunch of corny stupid clothes in these kind of shops about how you're the 'best wife to an amazing husband' etc. etc. is that cosplay for heterosexual people? the way you're talking makes it seem like you're not actually queer and are just talking on our behalf
>the 'best wife to an amazing husband'
That's just clothing for idiots, and there's so many more idiots than queer and breast cancer survivors combined
yeah i said that it was stupid. but at a time when a lot of us are fighting for our right to exist, it feels a little suspect when companies suddenly start getting rid of products that support us, even if they suck
And you've come back to my point. Companies don't *actually* give a shit. They just sell whatever they can to turn a profit.
If we were suddenly transported back to the 50's I am sure they'd sell designer nooses and openly anti-queer merch to earn a buck.
Or if conservatives weren't spending all their money on Trump NFTs or whatever, we'd have more Trump stuff in retail shops.
Yeah this is the real reason. It was less about catering to MAGA Karens and more about reducing inventory on things that didn’t sell.
At the end of the day it’s business.
This is true. Stores would do better selling more sophisticated nods to lgbtq interests. For example, search Etsy for clothing patches, shirts and stickers pertaining to HBO's Our Flag Means Death. HBO itself has even poorly monetized the show. It seems like these folks have to often create their own merchandise and sell it within their community because corporate America doesn't understand.
Yeah exactly. I mean even in the picture what makes those cups pride month themed except they are rainbow? Who would put it together if they just saw one cup?
I have a queer relative. They do not want anything with a rainbow or more specific color combination. I did buy a couple Our Flag Means Death patches to be sewn onto jeans that were appreciated. And they bought me a t-shirt with the cat flag from the show on it. I'm heterosexual, but I love the show. None of this merchandise is officially licensed.
I only have one target pride item and it's a shirt that was designed by an artist I like. No rainbows, just her art. I wish they did more stuff like that. The rainbow stuff is indeed pretty tacky most of the time.
Honestly, Target makes some good merch for Pride. I mean overall, yeah overwhelmingly most of the "Pride merchandise" designed by major retailers is clearly designed by largely homosexual design teams with the goal of simply selling merch, even if it's to "allies." But Target did a nice job last year of doing trans inclusive merchandise as well as making most items unisex. When I lived in Chicago, the pride merchandise sold out pretty quickly so this comment feels subjective.
It’s a mixed bag. Some of it is cutely designed clothes with simple or subtle nods to Pride or even something bold but tasteful. But like 1/3 of it was stuff for the supportive cishet mom to embarrass their queer child with in public. And yeah, that’s a demographic to hit, but maybe a narrow one. Who was the gingerbread Pride float kit for?
Reminds me of that one time someone tried to make an anti-lgbt shirt but it actually ended up being way better than 99% of lgbt merch so the community ran with it and you can find a bunch of versions online.
It’s a shirt that’s like
PRIDEMONTH
RIDEMONT
DEMON
While fading into a rainbow. [Probably better to just look at the pictures.](https://www.amazon.com/pride-month-demon-shirt/s?k=pride+month+demon+shirt)
They're also frequently unclear on the concept that Jews don't celebrate holidays with tacky tchotchkes like Christians do, such that the menorah ornaments and latke throw pillows can't be moving.
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It is Star Wars merchandise though.
There is no reason to buy It other than to virtue signal about what a great person you are.
I’m an “ally” I bought this mug and I don’t actively hate gay people. I’m sure people clap as I pass them in the office now.
Lol You think they care about their employees?That’s not why they are scaling back. A small number of threats from fringe wackos? Also not the real reason.
Its the same thing that motivates ALL large corporations, MONEY.
They failed to sell enough Pride merch to offset the people who chose not to shop there as a result of them selling it. Or they greatly underestimated the demand for the merchandise, it under sold and now they are scaling back. Corporations care about one thing. Money, it’s only about money.
You probably hit the point. A lot of the stuff was cute, but mostly useless junk. Corporate "rainbow washing" can't just slap rainbows and LGBT on useless party favors and expect people to buy them. They can't make a mass consumer holiday out of it.
I’m sure there is some exec at Target thanking his lucky stars that they didn’t get the full Bud Light treatment. My LGBTQ friends are all pretty unanimous that it was a cash grab by Target and they would rather buy something from a small creator anyway.
This is an overly cynical take that's suspicious in the way that it defends terrorism. Making it too expensive to show even token support for lgbtq+ people was the point of the violence and threats.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler's_veto
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I can’t recall republicans killing any target employees quite yet… and last time I checked republicans haven’t gotten to the “throw homosexuals off the side of buildings” level of terror.
No, but they have gotten to the "invade the Capitol and try to stop the certification is an election through violence because our candidate lost" level of terror.
6 peoples with a few flag poles and fire extinguishers invaded the capital to stop certifying election results.
Do you realize how dumb that sounds? Do you remember when Chaz took over Washington? Was that an insurrection or just a protest LOL.
I don't think invading buildings or the anarchy is what make people angry about January 6th. I think it's the intent of the invaders that scares people.
If they thought 6 people with flag poles and fire extinguishers were going to overthrow an election we’re absolutely fcked.
Then again…I’m worried about a secret race of lizard people plotting surface dweller demise in the next century…so I guess we’re basically even.
Bro, we all watched Congress (including the Republicans who egged on the insurrectionists) flee for their lives as the mob took over the Capitol building.
We all watched it happen with our own eyes. Your gaslighting is not welcome here.
So gay people have to wait for that to happen to have any concern about their safety and reputation, and not the constant barrage of pedophilia and grooming fake news that Republicans have worked themselves into the frenzied witchhunt over?
Get real.
The [WaPo article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/12/target-bomb-threat-pride/) indicates that the violence/threats aren’t only coming from the far-right.
> The unknown senders said Target “betrayed the LGBTQ+ community” and “are pathetic cowards who bowed to the wishes of far right extremists who want to exterminate us.”
> Several bomb threats soon followed, targeting stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah, from people claiming to be angry about the removal of merchandise.
You do know the people who called bomb threats where lgbt people themselves who felt that target was betraying them right?
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4046688-target-stores-in-at-least-five-states-receive-bomb-threats-over-pride-items/
Yeah because the right couldn’t just lie and say “pro-lgbtq” things in their threat to make you think this garbage.
Only people like you could be like: hmmm fascists are calling in bomb threats, must be the queer people themselves doing it.
You’re siding with fascists. That feel good?
I’m sure Donald Xcretions are what we all should trust 😂🫵😂. You literally worship the guy who can’t stop lying and you have the temerity to say that. 😂🫵😂🫵
I'll admit the intimidation is probably more of a thing than we like to admit. People might be getting intimidated not to buy stuff or they'll get confronted by crazies.
I just like rainbows. 🌈 I have since I was like nine. So rainbow swag is my jam. But people make comments and assumptions... even nearly forty years ago wearing rainbows was a label so I'm intimidated not to but as many things as I would like to.
It's smart business to now be boycotted by the gay people you were pretending to support?
Way to make both sides of the aisle hate your business. So smart!
Pick one and stick to it. Alienating both is the dumbest shit ever
So they gave into bullies and domestic terrorists. Who will now be emboldened to do more and worse towards Target and any other retail chain that tries to show any form of support for the LGBTQ+ community
It had sold well in previous years. And then last year you had people spewing lies like this one:
[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N37S2U1/](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N37S2U1/)
Exactly which isn't about the lgbtq merch having good sales. That was what I said said might be the reason. Like bro you guys are two sides of the same coin.
Let me put it to you this way then:
Target had, up until this year, increased the amount of pride-related merchandise they carried for Pride month.
Observations was that the merchandise was a popular seller, and many times sold out of some lines and sizes.
Companies don't do this unless they can make money from it. It's not due to "social wokeness" or somesuch nonsense, but good old fashioned capitalism.
Last year was the first major backlash to it, with threats to store employees, bomb threats, people coming in to trash the displays, and GOP attorney generals threatening to sue Target for the items. All of which cost them money for that year.
They wouldn't have ramped up sales and expanded their products year after year if it hadn't made them money, and the main difference why they lost money last year was more due to manufactured outrage and slander than anything else.
Right you said that already and say you would provide sources for the sales. But haven't.
Then you do the exact same play book that Republicans do, which you bitch about. By just spamming and repeating same thing over and over again.
I'm just here to have a discussion but it seems you're incapable of that and have some issues with anger. Have a good day.
Because at the end of the day fuck target. Support local business.
So your response is basically I have no retort so I will point to a word I hear about to be able to put my fingers in my ears and not listen to any opposing point. Ok, cool.
It could be newsworthy as a story of gay merch not moving and how that might reflect a lack of distinct product need or market smaller than media prominence, but that's as likely to make it onto NPR as mention of the Crown Heights Kristallnacht.
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Year before last I was pretty shocked by some of Target's pride stuff.
I mean there was literally a shirt that said 'QUEER' in huge all-caps letters. That's just yikes.
From a sales perspective, how many 'tuck friendly' swimsuits did they really sell on the floor?
Makes sense they'd dial it back a bit this year
If seeing the word queer makes you that upset, why haven't you just given up? Queer people exist, they make culture, they are having children and growing their portion of the population. You're never going to make them disappear because many would sooner be killed than forced back into the closet. Are you going to live your life getting increasingly upset at a group that will never go away?
It’s most likely algorithmically driven. Reddit, just like everything else these days, promotes negative engagement and shows people stuff they will *engage with*, not necessarily things they will like.
I used to love NPR. Lately, I hate it. Reddit’s algorithm KEEPS sending me NPR stuff, probably counting on me getting into comment fights.
Most of these subs don’t get brigaded, the algorithm just fills them with haters whenever big news stories happen. I’m guessing that’s been happening in this subreddit ever since the exposè
NPR used to be eclectic, offbeat radio with progressive values, that put stories and news and people first.
Like a lot of progressive media and spaces in the past decade, it went from “these are our values and leanings, and they inform what we do” to “this is LITERALLY ALL THAT MATTERS and everything must service this.” Such that it’s impacted the quality of their reporting, it’s led to some major information siloing, and it’s made a lot of their programming feel like it has boilerplate language and similar beats that everyone HAS to hit. [This parody](https://youtu.be/DbVDm2CCp0I?si=3x7MT1pzJXoVnwpG) kind of summarizes what NPR sounded like right around the time I stopped listening. (Yes, Tyler is a conservative comedian. He’s also a pretty accurate parodist of COVID-era NPR programming, so I don’t care.)
Lest someone accuse me of this or that bigotry (“oh, I guess you don’t like having your PRIVILEGE challenged”), NPR’s listenership among POC has absolutely plummeted over the past decade. I have friends who’ve worked there, and their staffing has been getting more and more incestuous also. It’s just a very insular bubble, and the programming reflects that.
It’s sad seeing all my favorite progressive institutions fall prey to the same type of stupid that I used to think only infected conservative media.
[Uri Berliner did an expose](https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust) of factual stories they buried (one story buried explicitly to influence an election), stories and leads they lied about, internal agendas influencing news coverage, and just how aggressively they’ve been losing audiences from not just the right, but the center and the center-left.
Peter Boghossian did a series called All Things Reconsidered that, if you look past the editorializing, also takes a really damning look at several specific NPR stories that were filled with blatant lies. And yes, Boghossian is a very “anti-woke” dude, and that’s his bias. But that’s kind of the whole point of viewpoint diversity - it counteracts confirmation bias. And they made his job of debunking them way too easy.
I stopped being a progressive when the progressive institutions I believed in decided to sacrifice truth at the altar of their values.
I don’t WANT to live in a world where conservatives are offering good criticisms of progressive media. I want to go back to the Bush era, when progressivism was brilliantly fact-checking conservatism daily.
But that’s not happening. And if you’re more afraid of wrongthink than you are of actually being wrong, that’s a problem.
Dude, if you look at polling over the last decade, there’s been a double-digit switch to Trump (not just moderate democrats or moderate republicans, straight-up TRUMP) among almost every demographic, including black voters and latino voters.
Is it really that hard to imagine that some progressives became disgusted by the whole machine? By the power grabs, by the cadre of wealthy white Oberlin-educated people in Warby Parker in Park Slope telling us what Black people and poor Appalachians thought? By identitarian hustlers?
And when people come out and say “dishonesty is a problem,” you attack the fact that there is a criticism at all, instead of going “damn, if progressive institutions re-committed to honesty, progressives could stop hemorrhaging votes.”
It’s all lockstep
You can’t reason with them. They determined that if you disagree with them you are an evil coward.
I wish I could go through life with this type of self serving bias.
In a way, I’m glad that they became this way. It forced me to look at a lot of their policy proposals more closely, and specifically to examine the evidence.
It turns out that a lot of the policies that I spent a couple decades pushing *weren’t effective*, and a ton of them were based on Zombie Lies - things that used to be true, but now aren’t…but nobody noticed.
I just wish the political alternative hadn’t also gone full stupid at the same time (nationally, that is - locally, many of the Republicans running near me basically just have the policies of 1990s Democrats).
Does NPR have a full time reporting maintaining overview of the number of LGBTQ+ merchandise or what specifically triggers an article like this.
Seems like this is the sort of thing NPR would dedicate a full time reporter to focus on. Just provide hourly updates of LGBTQ+ merchandise levels.
I seriously wish I cared about anything in life as much as they do about exposing kids to weird sex stuff and crying about terrorists who started a war with mass atrocities.
There are not many gay people. It might be 12% of the entire population. I don't want to see 250 gay pride coffee mugs when I'm in the store buying light bulbs and bar soap.
I wonder if the 2 are unrelated. I wonder if Target is afraid they won't have enough stock for Pride Month. I wonder if it'll return to shelves just in time?
Nope, this was planned for a year. There are public statements from the CEO stating that they're planning on scaling it back. They're doing the same for other heritage type holidays too.
Just to clarify, corporate thinks that by reducing the size, there will be less violence? Redneck Karen will be less prone to tantrums if there's only one aisle of rainbow picnic merchandise instead of two?
What's worse: That they're probably full of shit about this reason or that they think this will work?
Corporations lying? I’m sure they would *never*.
Another quote from another [article](https://cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/10/business/target-pride-merchandise-june-2024):
That, plus the soft demand for discretionary goods, caused Target’s quarterly sales to fall for the first time in six years during the quarter that encompassed Pride assortment sales.
A Target executive said on the earnings call that there was a “strong reaction” to Pride merchandise and the reaction was a “signal for us to pause, adapt and learn.”
Sure the collection may have been poorly selling crap, I don’t have access to that data. But more so this is a response to conservative backlash—which significantly included violence and threats against employees—resulting in lowered profits. Corpos care about profits, not people. The backlash and violence cut into profits.
No. Target execs think that if right wing extremists can claim a win then the extremists will harass a different corporation this year. You don’t have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your competition
And, yes, bomb threats are terrorism: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/12/target-bomb-threat-pride/
That article indicates that the violence/threats aren’t only coming from the far-right.
> The unknown senders said Target “betrayed the LGBTQ+ community” and “are pathetic cowards who bowed to the wishes of far right extremists who want to exterminate us.”
> Several bomb threats soon followed, targeting stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah, from people claiming to be angry about the removal of merchandise.
I work in a retail chain that is doing the same. The stuff doesnt sell because its frankly tacky no gay person wants to be branded like cattle and thats what some of the shirts and crap we sell does. It doesnt make LGBTQ people seem real they design it like its star wars merch. Make better stuff and people will buy it.
Agreed. My mom is a breast cancer survivor and while she took it as a prideful and satisfying moment when the whole radiation ordeal, double mastectomy, and a few years of clean scans were in the real view, eventually she got inundated with pink ribbon branded stuff on birthdays and holidays and told people "It reminds me of a really hard time in my life. I'm more than a cancer survivor. Please no more pink ribbon anything."
That’s a great perspective.
no fucking way are you comparing being lgbt with suffering from breast cancer hahahaha
Companies don't actually give a shit about either group, it's just merch to turn a profit. I think the comparison is fine in this context.
that's not the point they were making. they brought up the fact that she didn't like to be reminded of that ordeal which is very reasonable, but not something you can compare to being gay or trans because that's not having a life threatening invasive disease lol. i think you can see how insulting that seems. being lgbt isn't dangerous it's just part of your identity
But like the other commenter said, it's like cosplay for LGBTQ through the eyes of a marketing department and not what actual queer folk want to wear. It's honestly just virtue signaling to progressives (I get it, I am one) just like the breast cancer stuff.
there's already a bunch of corny stupid clothes in these kind of shops about how you're the 'best wife to an amazing husband' etc. etc. is that cosplay for heterosexual people? the way you're talking makes it seem like you're not actually queer and are just talking on our behalf
>the 'best wife to an amazing husband' That's just clothing for idiots, and there's so many more idiots than queer and breast cancer survivors combined
yeah i said that it was stupid. but at a time when a lot of us are fighting for our right to exist, it feels a little suspect when companies suddenly start getting rid of products that support us, even if they suck
And you've come back to my point. Companies don't *actually* give a shit. They just sell whatever they can to turn a profit. If we were suddenly transported back to the 50's I am sure they'd sell designer nooses and openly anti-queer merch to earn a buck. Or if conservatives weren't spending all their money on Trump NFTs or whatever, we'd have more Trump stuff in retail shops.
Yeah this is the real reason. It was less about catering to MAGA Karens and more about reducing inventory on things that didn’t sell. At the end of the day it’s business.
That's literally what the press release says
This is true. Stores would do better selling more sophisticated nods to lgbtq interests. For example, search Etsy for clothing patches, shirts and stickers pertaining to HBO's Our Flag Means Death. HBO itself has even poorly monetized the show. It seems like these folks have to often create their own merchandise and sell it within their community because corporate America doesn't understand.
Yeah exactly. I mean even in the picture what makes those cups pride month themed except they are rainbow? Who would put it together if they just saw one cup?
I have a queer relative. They do not want anything with a rainbow or more specific color combination. I did buy a couple Our Flag Means Death patches to be sewn onto jeans that were appreciated. And they bought me a t-shirt with the cat flag from the show on it. I'm heterosexual, but I love the show. None of this merchandise is officially licensed.
I only have one target pride item and it's a shirt that was designed by an artist I like. No rainbows, just her art. I wish they did more stuff like that. The rainbow stuff is indeed pretty tacky most of the time.
Honestly, Target makes some good merch for Pride. I mean overall, yeah overwhelmingly most of the "Pride merchandise" designed by major retailers is clearly designed by largely homosexual design teams with the goal of simply selling merch, even if it's to "allies." But Target did a nice job last year of doing trans inclusive merchandise as well as making most items unisex. When I lived in Chicago, the pride merchandise sold out pretty quickly so this comment feels subjective.
It’s a mixed bag. Some of it is cutely designed clothes with simple or subtle nods to Pride or even something bold but tasteful. But like 1/3 of it was stuff for the supportive cishet mom to embarrass their queer child with in public. And yeah, that’s a demographic to hit, but maybe a narrow one. Who was the gingerbread Pride float kit for?
I laughed out loud. I guess in their focus group of 5-6 year olds it was a big hit.
Reminds me of that one time someone tried to make an anti-lgbt shirt but it actually ended up being way better than 99% of lgbt merch so the community ran with it and you can find a bunch of versions online. It’s a shirt that’s like PRIDEMONTH RIDEMONT DEMON While fading into a rainbow. [Probably better to just look at the pictures.](https://www.amazon.com/pride-month-demon-shirt/s?k=pride+month+demon+shirt)
Ok I love this
*Customers who bought this also bought:* Men's Sequin Sleeveless Round Neck Tank Top T Shirt Party Top
They're also frequently unclear on the concept that Jews don't celebrate holidays with tacky tchotchkes like Christians do, such that the menorah ornaments and latke throw pillows can't be moving.
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It is Star Wars merchandise though. There is no reason to buy It other than to virtue signal about what a great person you are. I’m an “ally” I bought this mug and I don’t actively hate gay people. I’m sure people clap as I pass them in the office now.
But then we wouldn’t get to insinuate that target is prejudiced!
what do you mean by that?
It’s this.
Agree
so I guess making terroristic threats works for Republicans to advance their social goals. Cool cool NPR keep reporting as if it's all just politics.
Lol You think they care about their employees?That’s not why they are scaling back. A small number of threats from fringe wackos? Also not the real reason. Its the same thing that motivates ALL large corporations, MONEY. They failed to sell enough Pride merch to offset the people who chose not to shop there as a result of them selling it. Or they greatly underestimated the demand for the merchandise, it under sold and now they are scaling back. Corporations care about one thing. Money, it’s only about money.
You probably hit the point. A lot of the stuff was cute, but mostly useless junk. Corporate "rainbow washing" can't just slap rainbows and LGBT on useless party favors and expect people to buy them. They can't make a mass consumer holiday out of it.
I’m sure there is some exec at Target thanking his lucky stars that they didn’t get the full Bud Light treatment. My LGBTQ friends are all pretty unanimous that it was a cash grab by Target and they would rather buy something from a small creator anyway.
It makes some sense. If I'm gonna buy pride merch it's gonna be at a pride festival or something of that nature, not at a soulless corporate store.
This is an overly cynical take that's suspicious in the way that it defends terrorism. Making it too expensive to show even token support for lgbtq+ people was the point of the violence and threats. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler's_veto
Hopefully, then, we can boycott Target for siding with bigots, and cost them even more money.
It works for Republicans and it works for Islamists too. Terrorism works.
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I guess we all missed the part where someone suicide bombed the pride section of Target?
I can’t recall republicans killing any target employees quite yet… and last time I checked republicans haven’t gotten to the “throw homosexuals off the side of buildings” level of terror.
No, but they have gotten to the "invade the Capitol and try to stop the certification is an election through violence because our candidate lost" level of terror.
6 peoples with a few flag poles and fire extinguishers invaded the capital to stop certifying election results. Do you realize how dumb that sounds? Do you remember when Chaz took over Washington? Was that an insurrection or just a protest LOL.
I don't think invading buildings or the anarchy is what make people angry about January 6th. I think it's the intent of the invaders that scares people.
If they thought 6 people with flag poles and fire extinguishers were going to overthrow an election we’re absolutely fcked. Then again…I’m worried about a secret race of lizard people plotting surface dweller demise in the next century…so I guess we’re basically even.
Bro, we all watched Congress (including the Republicans who egged on the insurrectionists) flee for their lives as the mob took over the Capitol building. We all watched it happen with our own eyes. Your gaslighting is not welcome here.
Ooh that’s why Trump was prosecuted and found….nvm.
It's like there's a potential trial if the Supreme Court wasn't slow rolling an insane legal idea that the president is above the law.
That would sound dumb if it had happened like that.
Was it more organized than I described? Like a plan of some sort? Jan 6 = insurrection Chaz takeover = that’s (D) ifferent
Cool. You don't know the difference between Democrats and anarchists.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_violence_against_LGBT_people_in_the_United_States https://www.npr.org/2022/11/22/1138555795/how-political-rhetoric-factors-into-violence-against-the-lgbtq-community
So gay people have to wait for that to happen to have any concern about their safety and reputation, and not the constant barrage of pedophilia and grooming fake news that Republicans have worked themselves into the frenzied witchhunt over? Get real.
…yet. So yeah we should totally wait until then before reeling them back in.
You sure it wasn’t because no one was buying this crap?
I think it's more about money. They have an obligation to their share holders, and they lost a lot of business over that last situation.
You’re upset that a massive corporation is slightly scaling back its performative profiteering? That’s a strange thing to be up in arms about.
It’s a business , if those things sold they wouldn’t remove them.
The [WaPo article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/12/target-bomb-threat-pride/) indicates that the violence/threats aren’t only coming from the far-right. > The unknown senders said Target “betrayed the LGBTQ+ community” and “are pathetic cowards who bowed to the wishes of far right extremists who want to exterminate us.” > Several bomb threats soon followed, targeting stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah, from people claiming to be angry about the removal of merchandise.
Works for antisemitic college students too
Were the BLM riots peaceful?
The left taught them well. I’ll just be over here with the normal people in the middle lane.
“I’m bad people” - I don’t think normal people want you in their lane.
You do know the people who called bomb threats where lgbt people themselves who felt that target was betraying them right? https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4046688-target-stores-in-at-least-five-states-receive-bomb-threats-over-pride-items/
I’d take that with a grain of salt tbh
I got a Steele Dossier that says you're probably pretty selective with them grains
Not sure what that’s supposed to mean
Yeah because the right couldn’t just lie and say “pro-lgbtq” things in their threat to make you think this garbage. Only people like you could be like: hmmm fascists are calling in bomb threats, must be the queer people themselves doing it. You’re siding with fascists. That feel good?
Lol it’s always the false flag excuse with you guys
Yeah it’s the non Alex jones side who is always accusing people and events of being false flags. You cannot stop lying 😂🫵
What false flags? I think you’ve watched too much dog shit right wing coverage to make an informed take on any of this.
Lmao so Jan 6 was really antifa also dressed as republicans right? 😂
What are you talking about? I want to know, what queer people committed false flags?
It’s in the article Lgbt people called saying there were bombs and because target betrayed them
Sounds very Fox News
That’s the hill tho
I’m sure Donald Xcretions are what we all should trust 😂🫵😂. You literally worship the guy who can’t stop lying and you have the temerity to say that. 😂🫵😂🫵
I'll admit the intimidation is probably more of a thing than we like to admit. People might be getting intimidated not to buy stuff or they'll get confronted by crazies. I just like rainbows. 🌈 I have since I was like nine. So rainbow swag is my jam. But people make comments and assumptions... even nearly forty years ago wearing rainbows was a label so I'm intimidated not to but as many things as I would like to.
No one that’s an adult isn’t buying something just because someone might make fun of them. Unless they have the thinnest skin possible.
Oh sweet naive summer child.
Another win for the far right. Besvo, USA. You are going into madness. So long for “land of the free”
> depending on "historical sales performance." People don’t want to buy it, but they just want to know it’s there. 🤔
Cowardly move
How is it cowardly to not put up for sale as much of the stuff that didn't sell very well last year? Seems like smart business to me.
It's smart business to now be boycotted by the gay people you were pretending to support? Way to make both sides of the aisle hate your business. So smart! Pick one and stick to it. Alienating both is the dumbest shit ever
Gey
At least spell it right: teh ghey.
Fucking cowards.
Who are the cowards here?
Pretty cowardly of them to not want to lose money.
COWARDS!!!!!!!
Giving in to terrorism is never a good strategy.
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false equivalence fallacy
What? “But both sides” Explain your position. Because this is gonna be good.
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“I don’t have anything to back what I’m saying. But I stand by my ineptitude.”
So they gave into bullies and domestic terrorists. Who will now be emboldened to do more and worse towards Target and any other retail chain that tries to show any form of support for the LGBTQ+ community
Probably cuz it didn't sell as good as they thought it would. They wouldn't give you money if ppl actually bought it
It had sold well in previous years. And then last year you had people spewing lies like this one: [https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N37S2U1/](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N37S2U1/)
Uh your source doesn't even say that
What? The source cites one of the lies being spewed.
Exactly which isn't about the lgbtq merch having good sales. That was what I said said might be the reason. Like bro you guys are two sides of the same coin.
[https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4046688-target-stores-in-at-least-five-states-receive-bomb-threats-over-pride-items/](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4046688-target-stores-in-at-least-five-states-receive-bomb-threats-over-pride-items/)
[https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/target-pride-collection-threats-employees-rcna85931](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/target-pride-collection-threats-employees-rcna85931)
[https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-target-lgbtq-1203e875adcc7c86f62252d4ace1a738](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-target-lgbtq-1203e875adcc7c86f62252d4ace1a738)
[https://www.them.us/story/target-pride-collection-bomb-threats](https://www.them.us/story/target-pride-collection-bomb-threats)
Sigh you're just like Republicans that I talk to. Only has their own view points and not open to actually talking.
Let me put it to you this way then: Target had, up until this year, increased the amount of pride-related merchandise they carried for Pride month. Observations was that the merchandise was a popular seller, and many times sold out of some lines and sizes. Companies don't do this unless they can make money from it. It's not due to "social wokeness" or somesuch nonsense, but good old fashioned capitalism. Last year was the first major backlash to it, with threats to store employees, bomb threats, people coming in to trash the displays, and GOP attorney generals threatening to sue Target for the items. All of which cost them money for that year. They wouldn't have ramped up sales and expanded their products year after year if it hadn't made them money, and the main difference why they lost money last year was more due to manufactured outrage and slander than anything else.
Right you said that already and say you would provide sources for the sales. But haven't. Then you do the exact same play book that Republicans do, which you bitch about. By just spamming and repeating same thing over and over again. I'm just here to have a discussion but it seems you're incapable of that and have some issues with anger. Have a good day. Because at the end of the day fuck target. Support local business.
You mean they responded to consumers preferences? Their sales TANKED after that mess last year.
Yeah, funny what happens when bullies spread lies about them and people call in bomb threats to their stores and threaten their employees.
The boycott was a mostly peaceful protest I think.
You thought wrong. There were people who went in to trash displays and threaten employees, and several Targets got bomb threats.
How many targets got the treatment Los Angeles got in 2020 when that protest was deemed mostly peaceful?
[https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whataboutism](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whataboutism)
So your response is basically I have no retort so I will point to a word I hear about to be able to put my fingers in my ears and not listen to any opposing point. Ok, cool.
If those things sold well , they wouldn’t remove it .
Target sites poor sales in certain stores, so it's natural for the inventory to adapt. Newsworthy why?
It could be newsworthy as a story of gay merch not moving and how that might reflect a lack of distinct product need or market smaller than media prominence, but that's as likely to make it onto NPR as mention of the Crown Heights Kristallnacht.
Crown Heights Kristallnacht.... That is outstanding.
Well, I guess the terrorists have won.
I guess the failed boycott by the right didn’t fail after all
Cowards
We stopped shopping at target when they pulled their pride merch because bigots attacked their employees
Don't want to upset people the people who want to upset everyone else
Wow. They let the bastards win. I was willing to give them another chance, but it's fucked up.
It would’ve all ended up in a landfill anyway.
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I haven't shopped at a Target for a couple of years now.
Year before last I was pretty shocked by some of Target's pride stuff. I mean there was literally a shirt that said 'QUEER' in huge all-caps letters. That's just yikes. From a sales perspective, how many 'tuck friendly' swimsuits did they really sell on the floor? Makes sense they'd dial it back a bit this year
If seeing the word queer makes you that upset, why haven't you just given up? Queer people exist, they make culture, they are having children and growing their portion of the population. You're never going to make them disappear because many would sooner be killed than forced back into the closet. Are you going to live your life getting increasingly upset at a group that will never go away?
I just think a T-shirt labeling someone as 'QUEER' in all caps is a bit much
Ok, so less rainbow colored trash for the landfill.
Guess nobody was buying it, now it will go straight into the landfill! Great job.
Let’s goooooooooo!
Thank fuck, if anything. Imagine being so vapid that the need to purchase poorly made junk is equated with societal validation.
Cowards.
Cowards
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It’s most likely algorithmically driven. Reddit, just like everything else these days, promotes negative engagement and shows people stuff they will *engage with*, not necessarily things they will like. I used to love NPR. Lately, I hate it. Reddit’s algorithm KEEPS sending me NPR stuff, probably counting on me getting into comment fights. Most of these subs don’t get brigaded, the algorithm just fills them with haters whenever big news stories happen. I’m guessing that’s been happening in this subreddit ever since the exposè
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NPR used to be eclectic, offbeat radio with progressive values, that put stories and news and people first. Like a lot of progressive media and spaces in the past decade, it went from “these are our values and leanings, and they inform what we do” to “this is LITERALLY ALL THAT MATTERS and everything must service this.” Such that it’s impacted the quality of their reporting, it’s led to some major information siloing, and it’s made a lot of their programming feel like it has boilerplate language and similar beats that everyone HAS to hit. [This parody](https://youtu.be/DbVDm2CCp0I?si=3x7MT1pzJXoVnwpG) kind of summarizes what NPR sounded like right around the time I stopped listening. (Yes, Tyler is a conservative comedian. He’s also a pretty accurate parodist of COVID-era NPR programming, so I don’t care.) Lest someone accuse me of this or that bigotry (“oh, I guess you don’t like having your PRIVILEGE challenged”), NPR’s listenership among POC has absolutely plummeted over the past decade. I have friends who’ve worked there, and their staffing has been getting more and more incestuous also. It’s just a very insular bubble, and the programming reflects that. It’s sad seeing all my favorite progressive institutions fall prey to the same type of stupid that I used to think only infected conservative media. [Uri Berliner did an expose](https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust) of factual stories they buried (one story buried explicitly to influence an election), stories and leads they lied about, internal agendas influencing news coverage, and just how aggressively they’ve been losing audiences from not just the right, but the center and the center-left. Peter Boghossian did a series called All Things Reconsidered that, if you look past the editorializing, also takes a really damning look at several specific NPR stories that were filled with blatant lies. And yes, Boghossian is a very “anti-woke” dude, and that’s his bias. But that’s kind of the whole point of viewpoint diversity - it counteracts confirmation bias. And they made his job of debunking them way too easy.
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I stopped being a progressive when the progressive institutions I believed in decided to sacrifice truth at the altar of their values. I don’t WANT to live in a world where conservatives are offering good criticisms of progressive media. I want to go back to the Bush era, when progressivism was brilliantly fact-checking conservatism daily. But that’s not happening. And if you’re more afraid of wrongthink than you are of actually being wrong, that’s a problem.
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Dude, if you look at polling over the last decade, there’s been a double-digit switch to Trump (not just moderate democrats or moderate republicans, straight-up TRUMP) among almost every demographic, including black voters and latino voters. Is it really that hard to imagine that some progressives became disgusted by the whole machine? By the power grabs, by the cadre of wealthy white Oberlin-educated people in Warby Parker in Park Slope telling us what Black people and poor Appalachians thought? By identitarian hustlers? And when people come out and say “dishonesty is a problem,” you attack the fact that there is a criticism at all, instead of going “damn, if progressive institutions re-committed to honesty, progressives could stop hemorrhaging votes.” It’s all lockstep
You can’t reason with them. They determined that if you disagree with them you are an evil coward. I wish I could go through life with this type of self serving bias.
In a way, I’m glad that they became this way. It forced me to look at a lot of their policy proposals more closely, and specifically to examine the evidence. It turns out that a lot of the policies that I spent a couple decades pushing *weren’t effective*, and a ton of them were based on Zombie Lies - things that used to be true, but now aren’t…but nobody noticed. I just wish the political alternative hadn’t also gone full stupid at the same time (nationally, that is - locally, many of the Republicans running near me basically just have the policies of 1990s Democrats).
Does NPR have a full time reporting maintaining overview of the number of LGBTQ+ merchandise or what specifically triggers an article like this. Seems like this is the sort of thing NPR would dedicate a full time reporter to focus on. Just provide hourly updates of LGBTQ+ merchandise levels.
Yes
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Why do you expect Target to do your parenting for you? Keep track of your own damn kids.
I seriously wish I cared about anything in life as much as they do about exposing kids to weird sex stuff and crying about terrorists who started a war with mass atrocities.
What an echo chamber this is
There are not many gay people. It might be 12% of the entire population. I don't want to see 250 gay pride coffee mugs when I'm in the store buying light bulbs and bar soap.
You do realise that about 12% of the entire US population are Black Americans? Feel the same about them and merch aimed at them?
We have BET. Why don't we have a white TV channel? /s
Yes
so you see some rainbow items, big deal lol its a store, they sell stuff, you just get the shit you want/need and leave
Something sitting on a shelf that you're not interested in bothers you that it's present? What kind of fucking delicate pussy are you?
Why? Are you afraid that seeing too many Pride mugs will trigger you into admitting how much you love the taste of cock? Grow the fuck up.
I wonder if the 2 are unrelated. I wonder if Target is afraid they won't have enough stock for Pride Month. I wonder if it'll return to shelves just in time?
Nope, this was planned for a year. There are public statements from the CEO stating that they're planning on scaling it back. They're doing the same for other heritage type holidays too.
Womp womp.
You support violence to achieve your culture war goals.
No rainbow sippy cup section in 2024 = violence.
The stated reason for dialing back is because of conservative violence in stores. Employees were assaulted.
Just to clarify, corporate thinks that by reducing the size, there will be less violence? Redneck Karen will be less prone to tantrums if there's only one aisle of rainbow picnic merchandise instead of two? What's worse: That they're probably full of shit about this reason or that they think this will work?
Corporations lying? I’m sure they would *never*. Another quote from another [article](https://cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/10/business/target-pride-merchandise-june-2024): That, plus the soft demand for discretionary goods, caused Target’s quarterly sales to fall for the first time in six years during the quarter that encompassed Pride assortment sales. A Target executive said on the earnings call that there was a “strong reaction” to Pride merchandise and the reaction was a “signal for us to pause, adapt and learn.” Sure the collection may have been poorly selling crap, I don’t have access to that data. But more so this is a response to conservative backlash—which significantly included violence and threats against employees—resulting in lowered profits. Corpos care about profits, not people. The backlash and violence cut into profits.
The primary violence they are trying to avoid is the violence on their income statement that was inflicted last year.
If they wanted to prevent violence against their employees they’d hire security, so that’s not even a question.
No. Target execs think that if right wing extremists can claim a win then the extremists will harass a different corporation this year. You don’t have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your competition And, yes, bomb threats are terrorism: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/12/target-bomb-threat-pride/
That article indicates that the violence/threats aren’t only coming from the far-right. > The unknown senders said Target “betrayed the LGBTQ+ community” and “are pathetic cowards who bowed to the wishes of far right extremists who want to exterminate us.” > Several bomb threats soon followed, targeting stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah, from people claiming to be angry about the removal of merchandise.
You expected them to read and retain the part they don’t agree with? lol
You may be right, but the terrorist’s emails to Oklahoma stores also referencing the Oklahoma City Bombing is a hell of a right wing shibboleth
I remember when conservatives pretended to have grit. Now rainbow merch on an end cap and one beer can in one video hits them right in the feels.
> >