When you walk into Target, it’s typical to see masses of people strolling under harsh fluorescent lighting, pushing shopping carts full of clothes, toiletries or food under the shadow of the red and white bulls-eye.
Yet, since March 5, the tiled aisles have been strangely void of shoppers because of a nationwide boycott of the famous retail company.
Target isn’t the only business thousands of Americans are bypassing this spring. Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s and Nestlé are some of the dozens of corporations on the list of taboo stores. Since the economic blackout in late February, multiple boycotts have been scheduled through June, including a second economic blackout in April.
The main cause of the boycotts and blackouts is the changes the Trump administration has been making to nationwide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, and the resulting decisions of major companies to follow suit. Several industries began reversing their pro-DEI policies even before these changes took place, but Target in particular has been receiving a large amount of backlash. Businesses like this have long been subjected to criticism over their DEI policies from conservative customers, but the roles have reversed since the policy removal, causing anger among democratic consumers.
Alexa Bryant-Capellas, an English teacher at Ida B. Wells, has been taking part in the boycott against Target. “My understanding is it’s a way for folks to vote with their dollar,” she says.
“[We] have elections every now and again, but we also have the ability to vote with our dollar and put money towards companies that are willing to uphold DEI and are expressing that they value [it] in their… business practices.”
The Target boycott began after Pastor Jamal-Harrison Bryant in Atlanta, Georgia, encouraged his community to stop buying from the corporation during the 40-day Christian holiday of Lent. Much of the Democratic population of the U.S. followed his lead.
Similarly, Americans noticed that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, attended Trump’s inauguration and supported it financially, causing many who disagreed with his viewpoint to boycott the company.
Target previously had a strong DEI approach that included a program to support Black employees, but rolled back those policies after President Trump took office. The retail store claimed that scaling down diversity strategies was part of a three-year plan, following a trend that had been set by dozens of other corporations.
However important and valuable the cause is, it’s not always easy to just quit to stop dependency on huge corporations like Target and Amazon. For many people, it’s between staying true to their political values or setting their beliefs aside so it can be easier to provide for themselves and their families.
“In terms of solidarity, [boycotting is] an easy way to get folks to join a movement [and] take action,” says Bryant-Capellas. “I think that there’s also an opportunity… to prioritize other [businesses], particularly bipoc-owned [and] queer owned stores.”
“I think making those shifts in our everyday life is an important part of resistance and revolution,” she says.
Franchises like Target and Walmart are popular and effortless to access because they are spread thickly across the country. Amazon is also a huge part of many people’s daily lives because it provides an efficient way to get items you can’t always find in local stores or that you may not have time to buy in person, which makes it difficult to get rid of.
“[My family] just put our Amazon Prime membership on pause last week, because like others, we are participating where we can,” says Ken Muraoka, a business and marketing teacher at IBW.
“More than anything, Amazon sells instant gratification, not products… and that completely shifted people’s ability to wait for fulfillment. So if you are able to sacrifice convenience, it’s easier to unhook [your reliance on Amazon].”
A major question surrounding these boycotts and blackouts right now is whether or not they are actually going to be effective.
The most hopeful answer is that our government and corporations like Target and Amazon will recognize that they are losing a significant portion of their customer base, and getting rid of DEI strategies means we are losing progress in our country’s fight against discrimination. However, not everyone is expecting the best, seeing as there are many factors that can play into different scenarios.
“The desired outcome of the boycotts is for businesses to change their… political leanings, but in reality, it benefits businesses to try to accept and align with different presidential administrations,” says Muraoka. “So I think for most people, it’s self-gratification that makes them feel better… it’s something they [can do] when they are otherwise feeling helpless… like they’re doing something to stand up to the political beliefs they don’t align with.”
No one can fully predict how this battle for equality through consumerism will turn out, but as many Americans have discovered through politics and everyday life, it’s often much healthier to have an optimistic outlook rather than a cynical one. It’s a tough decision to choose whether or not to show your support by boycotting, but it will make an important political statement.
