deleted<\/a> from the Target website, featured gloves, a top hat and a grinning mask with large teeth.<\/p>\n\u2018Not simply getting it wrong\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cA Jim Crow-era minstrel costume is not simply getting it wrong. It is a profoundly harmful symbol of racism that should never have been designed, approved, or sold by Target,\u201d said the Rev. Jamal Bryant, a Georgia pastor who led a 40-day \u201cTarget Fast\u201d boycott last year. \u201cIt shows that Target still lacks corporate diversity among decision-makers and needs concrete internal change.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In January 2025, the Minneapolis-based corporation ended its three-year DEI program, stopping reports to external groups like the Human Rights Campaign and ended a program focused on carrying more products from Black- or minority-owned businesses, replacing it with a new \u201cBelonging\u201d strategy. The company previously stated that the murder of George Floyd was a catalyst for its DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n
Activist-organizers called for a boycott of Target, which lost roughly $12.4 billion in market value by the end of February from January.<\/p>\n
Minnesota civil rights activists, separate from Bryant, organized a national Target boycott, resulting in a 33% fall in the corporation\u2019s stock prices and wiped out over $20 billion in market value.<\/p>\n
Target’s recent recovery<\/p>\n
Target has managed a recovery in recent months. The stock closed at $165.44 on Aug.21, a fresh 52-week high, after a strong second quarter. On Aug. 24, Target\u2019s shares closed at $169.89.<\/p>\n
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Target\u2019s stock is up roughly 63% this year, a sharp rebound from the depths of the boycott. The company\u2019s turnaround strategy, launched by new CEO Michael Fiddelke after former CEO Brian Cornell stepped down, includes store refreshes, increased staffing, and more aggressive pricing. Target announced a plan in March to invest $2 billion in 2026, including $1 billion in additional operating investments, with plans to open more than 30 new stores this year as part of its path to 300 new stores by 2035, while investing in over 130 planned full-store remodels.<\/p>\n
Bruce Winder, a retail analyst and former retail buyer, says that inventory errors, such as the recent Prada and Gucci controversies, \u201ccan happen to the best of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese things happen over time. I think the most important thing for Target, and they did it, was to quickly take accountability, quickly say sorry, acknowledge that this was a big mistake, and pull the product from the shelves,\u201d Winder said.<\/p>\n
Boycott organizers undeterred<\/p>\n
Target boycott organizers in Minneapolis, including Nekima Levy Armstrong and community leaders Monique Cullars-Doty and Jaylani Hussein, remain steadfast in their divestment calls.<\/p>\n
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They have continued to press the company to reinstate its DEI programs and continue its commitments to Black communities, and they say the costume controversy is a refresher on their mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for people to understand that the Target boycott never ended; that it was indefinite from the beginning, unless and until Target reversed course on its decision to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion,\u201d said Armstrong, an organizer of the national Target boycott.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is Target engaging in PR campaigns: recruiting high-visibility Black ministers to meet with them, partnering with (rapper and businessman) Jay-Z, all types of different shenanigans to deflect from the fact that they abandon their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and capitulation to the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hussein, another boycott organizer, said the costume incident was \u201cnot surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was almost predictable because of the behavior of Target, and I think this is going to build on the momentum of the boycott. More people are going to be upset,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just an incident with a costume. There are a lot of people right now in this country across many parts who\u2019ve changed their culture of shopping, who have found other places to put their money behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Target Corporation\u2019s stock closed at $163.47 on Aug. 25, dropping 3.78% from its previous close the day prior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE – The Target logo displayed on a sign outside a store, Nov. 18, 2025, in Salem, N.H.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1024172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,101997,409790,69,57213,101998,17635,409791,409792,184754,184755,299694,343793,359361,299693,184749,184750,184751,324520,7202,7203,409789,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1024171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-brian-cornell","tag-bruce-winder","tag-donald-trump","tag-george-floyd","tag-michael-fiddelke","tag-minneapolis","tag-monique-cullars-doty","tag-nekima-armstrong","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-package-100923-member-choice-lifestyles-option","tag-product-30041-ap-georgia-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30065-ap-minnesota-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30594-lifestyles-formerly-weekly-features","tag-product-30597-ap-business-news-f-wire","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31995-ap-online-general-financial-business-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-target-minstrel-costume-boycott-dei","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}