A 40-day boycott of the popular retail chain Target began on March 5th, 2025, and will end on April 20th. People are boycotting Target because the company has decided to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This includes ending a program to invest in Black-owned businesses and reducing focus on DEI within the workplace.
A boycott is a withdrawal from commercial or social relations with a country, organization, or person as a punishment or protest. Here’s everything you need to know about the current situation of the protest.
The boycott began after Target announced it would phase out certain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This decision followed similar actions taken by several other corporations. A 40-day nationwide boycott of Target started last week as some consumers continued to protest the company’s rollback of its DEI efforts. Target stated it would eliminate hiring goals for minority employees, disband an executive committee focused on racial justice, and implement further changes to its diversity initiatives. This announcement was made on January 24, just days after Donald Trump took office as president.
Black church leaders spearheaded a boycott of Target to address concerns about the company’s rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.Target said that it would end DEI goals soon, which many fear will provide non-white shoppers with less respect and worse service, and lock out economic opportunities to BIPOC and disabled employees. Due to Black church leaders taking such actions, the activists demand that Target restore its DEI commitments and that Target honor its previous pledge to spend over $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025.
. Customers online have protested the decision, and Anne and Lucy Dayton, the daughters of one of Target’s co-founders, called the company’s action a betrayal. Target has faced fierce pushback from DEI supporters, however, is not the only company being boycotted
Huge companies like Amazon, Nestle, and Walmart are also rolling back their DEI programs and are now facing boycotts. People are boycotting Amazon because critics accuse the company of stifling small businesses, exploiting workers, and aggressively opposing union efforts while reaping billions in annual profit. Nestle is also facing backlash due to concerns about their business practices, including allegations of child labor in cocoa production, unethical marketing of baby formula, and environmental violations.
The boycotts appear effective, as Target has seen a decline in sales and customer traffic over the past few weeks, with 11% fewer customers and a 3% decrease in overall sales. This indicates that, as a consequence of the boycott, Target is losing revenue.
Additionally, many people have shared negative remarks about the brand in the comments section of Target’s TikTok videos. This situation has prompted Target to disable comments on all its videos to slow down the backlash.
Though Target has not officially commented on the boycott, its recent decisions to scale back DEI programs and initiatives have sparked calls for a consumer boycott, leading some customers to shop elsewhere.
Sources:
https://fortune.com/2025/03/07/target-boycotted-40-days-lent-decision-drop-dei-initiatives/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/business/target-boycott-jamal-bryant/index.html
