American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net) President Tim Wildmon hand-delivered another 500,000 #BoycottTarget pledge signatures to Target headquarters in Minneapolis, after which AFA leadership briefly met with Target senior management about the retailer’s dangerous and misguided restroom and fitting room policy that puts women and children at risk.
Last spring, AFA delivered the first 1 million signatures to Target leaders, who politely but passively listened to AFA’s concerns over the policy. The past year since that first meeting has been a dismal one for the retailer, with revenues falling and stock prices plummeting.
“American Family Association is again appreciative that Target representatives were willing to accept the signatures of another 500,000 Americans who are alarmed by this ongoing policy,” Wildmon said. “Yet, even after the retail chain struggled with multiple negative headlines over their sinking sales this past year, Target gave no indication it would make any changes to this policy that is alienating millions of families.”
After AFA’s delivery of the first million signatures last year, Target stated it would add single-stall restrooms in stores not already equipped with them, but has otherwise not altered the policy.
“Therefore,” Wildmon continued, “AFA’s #BoycottTarget campaign will continue as strong as it began, and we are confident that tens of thousands more will join the movement and voice their concerns over Target’s policy. We will not back down from this very destructive and agenda-driven policy and will continue to fight for the more than 1.5 million Americans who have already signed the #BoycottTarget pledge.
“Most importantly,” he added, “we ask that all who agree with AFA’s #BoycottTarget pledge remain committed to not visiting Target stores or shopping online through Target.com. Target’s financial numbers have shown that these families who have chosen to shop elsewhere are making a huge difference.”
Last week, the embattled retailer announced its 2017 first-quarter earnings. Target’s same-store sales fell 1.3 percent, while overall revenue in the first quarter dropped 1.1 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
After the earnings announcement, Wildmon noted that leadership problems abound at Target, with stockholders seemingly questioning whether the company is in qualified hands. In fact, just one person in CEO Brian Cornell’s 10-member original executive team remains employed at Target. Additionally, Cornell’s already-generous cash-and-stock compensation was recently slashed by one-third. {eoa}
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