Target One Year Later

When Enron was collapsing, I was brought in as a strategist around the topic; should they change their name during the fall out. “Huh? No, you can run, but you can’t hide, was my take.” I love watching brands when something catastrophic occurs, and who keeps their shit together, and who doesn’t. I shake my head seven out of ten times.

Target. A year ago I watched the Target controversy unfold with total fascination.

Not because of the politics. Because of the brand management.

What started it was Target’s Pride Month collection in 2023. The company released clothing, accessories, and home items tied to LGBTQ identity, something it had done for years. But this time a few items caught fire online. Videos from inside Target stores started circulating on social media. Commentators criticized the products and said some of the displays were placed too close to children’s clothing.

Within days the situation exploded.

Calls for boycotts spread across social media. Influencers filmed themselves walking through Target stores. Cable news picked it up. What had been a seasonal merchandising program suddenly became a national cultural argument.

Employees began reporting confrontations with customers in stores. Target said some staff felt unsafe after threats and harassment.

Then the company made the decision that really changed the story. And, I kept rereading the reports thinking they were misprints.

Target pulled some items from the Pride collection and moved other displays away from the front of stores.

The reaction was immediate.

Supporters of the collection accused the company of backing down. Critics of the merchandise said the move was not enough. In one step Target managed to anger both sides.

Sales dropped. Foot traffic fell. The stock took a hit. Executives spent months explaining the situation to investors.

Watching it play out, I kept thinking the same thing. The merchandise was never the real problem. Retailers sell to different communities all the time.

The problem was how Target handled the pressure once the backlash started.

If I step back from the politics and look at it purely as a brand decision, Target made a classic mistake. They treated the moment like a temporary public relations flare up. It wasn’t. It had become a values moment.

Once a company spends years presenting itself as inclusive, that becomes part of the brand. When it suddenly looks unsure about that position, the brand starts to look confused.

And confused brands get punished.

If I had been advising Target at the time, my advice would have been very simple. Pick a position and hold it calmly.

No retreat. No defensiveness. Just clarity. Quietly.

Something like this would have been enough. “Target serves millions of customers with different views. Our Pride collection is one of many seasonal collections we offer each year. Customers are free to shop what fits their families and values.”

That kind of response lowers the temperature.

But here we are now, one year later. And the real question is not what happened. The real question is what Target should do now.

If I were them, I would come out on the one year anniversary and say something simple and honest.

“Our mistake was reacting.”

Not the merchandise. Not the customers. The reaction.

Looking back, the company could say that it moved too quickly in the middle of a loud cultural moment instead of staying steady as a brand that serves many different communities.

That kind of statement would land with most Americans because it shows maturity without reopening the fight.

Then I would take it one step further.

I would invite a group of voices from the LGBTQ community, along with employees and a few small business partners who work with Target, to a one day listening session. Not a big corporate spectacle. Not something designed for television.

Just a conversation.

Release a short summary afterward. What we heard. What we learned. How we move forward.

The point would not be to re-litigate the past. The point would be to show that the company listened.

I have watched enough American companies go through crises to know something about our culture.

Americans are remarkably forgiving people.

But we do expect honesty.

When a company simply says we handled that moment poorly and we learned from it, most of us are ready to move on.

Handled that way, the one year anniversary would not reopen the controversy. It would close it.