Target has removed some LGBTQ products after receiving negative feedback from customers. After receiving negative feedback from customers, Target is withdrawing some items from shops from its Pride Collection, the company confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday.
More than two thousand items, including apparel, books, music, and home furnishings, are available as part of Target Corp’s (TGT.N) Pride Collection. The books for children ages 2-8 include “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1, 2, 3,” and “I’m not a Girl,” while the mugs are labeled as “gender fluid.”
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Target said, “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work.”
“Given these volatile circumstances, we are adjusting our plans, including removing items at the center of most significant confrontational behavior,” the Minneapolis-based company stated.
More than a decade has passed since Target first began honoring Pride Month. Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda said that this year’s selection has resulted in an uptick in confrontations between customers and employees and incidents of Pride products being tossed on the floor.
After a conservative reaction against Bud Light last month, when manufacturer Anheuser-Busch promoted the beverage on social media with transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney, Target has taken action.
Castaneda said that Target has stopped selling the recalled items in all its physical and online locations in the United States.
The only LGBTQ brand being withdrawn from the Pride Collection is Abprallen, which has been scrutinized for its relationship with British designer Erik Carnell.
Carnell has received criticism online for creating goods that feature imagery of Satanic symbols like pentagrams and horned skulls.
On Tuesday, a search for Abprallen items at Target.com returned zero results.
From what we can tell from online posts and screenshots, Target has in the past offered a $25 slogan sweater reading “cure transphobia, not trans people” and an $18 “too queer for here” tote bag.
Castaneda added that the retailer is considering whether or not to carry transgender swimwear and children’s clothing.
One swimsuit labeled “tuck friendly,” marketed in the women’s area, has drawn criticism for implying that it may be used to “tuck” a man’s genitalia.
On Tuesday morning, Fox News reported that some Target locations in Southern states had removed Pride-themed products from their front displays. According to Reuters, a Target worker in Arkansas said the company had moved Pride-themed swimwear to a more obscure store section.
“We had swimsuits in the front…. but now they are in a random area in the back now,” the employee, who did not want to be identified, added. We started moving the stock on Sunday.
