Target Reduce Pride Merch In Stores After Last Year’s Backlash

Pride Month kicks off next month and Target confirmed that it won’t carry Pride Month merchandise in all of its stores in June. This news comes a year after the retailer experienced backlash over its collection honoring LGBTQ+ communities.

Business Insider reported that the retailer responded to media coverage in an email to LGBTQ+ employees after news broke that the retailer plans to shrink the number of stores carrying its Pride collection this year. The company said it would offer a collection online and certain stores "based on historical sales performance." 

The outlet also mentioned that shortly after the retailer released its public statement, the company's VP of Brand Marketing Carlos Saavedra emailed the Pride+ Business Council, which is Target's employee resource group for LGBTQ+ supporters.

In the note, obtained by Business Insider, Saavedra says teams across the company have been working on this year's plans "for months" and were preparing an internal preview of the campaign for May 14. Online Pride collections in prior years have launched as early as May 1.

"As we all know, last year was challenging, and we've made some changes this year based on guest insights and sales trends," Saavedra said. "Stores were chosen based on where we've historically seen the strongest sales demand."

Last year, ahead of Pride Month, the retailer removed some products after facing backlash. According to multiple reports, the company and its employees became the focus of a “volatile” anti-LGBTQ campaign. At the time, the company said threats against employees impacted their sense of safety and well-being. Target said it removed from shelves “items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”

CNN reported that the retailer has celebrated Pride Month in and around June. The company runs advertisements to appeal to LGBTQ customers and employees, and it sells t-shirts, coffee mugs, and merchandise with rainbow flags and other symbols of gay rights.

The Associated Press reported that people confronted workers in stores, knocked down Pride merchandise displays, and put threatening posts on social media with videos from inside stores. Some people even threw Pride items on the floor.

This year, the retailer is offering a collection of products including adult apparel and home and food and beverage items, curated based on consumer feedback. The collection will be available on Target.com and in select stores. The company said it will be based on historical sales performance.

Take a look at the company's full statement here.

Burger King's new hamburger to celebrate Pride Month has caused quite the stir on social media, debuting a "Pride Whopper" with "two equal buns" in Austria.

Customers will choose between a "top" or a "bottom" buns choice until June 20 to promote "equal love and equal rights," the company said in an Instagram post last week. Burger King said in the post that the new burger's "little twist" is "meant to put a smile on our faces and to remind us to treat each other with respect and peace."

Some users on social media found the new burger funny, while others criticized the company, arguing that the joke was offensive and an example of "rainbow washing" (companies showing surface-level support for the LGBTQ+ community without any specific action that could improve their lives). It is not clear whether Burger King plans to donate any money made from the Pride Whopper to LGBTQ+ organizations.

Per CNN, Burger King called attention to rival Chick-fil-A's history with the LGBTQ+ community last year; Burger King said they would donate 40 cents to the Human Rights Campaign (the United States' largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization) for every Ch'King chicken sandwich sold during Pride Month.

In a 2018 interview with a local Atlanta TV station, Chick-fil-A chairman and former CEO Dan Cathy said he did not support gay marriage, but was not anti-gay, though the company donated to charities with anti-LGBTQ stances, Vox reported.

See how Twitter reacted to the "Pride Whopper" below: