Target Brand Check-up: When a Brand Promise Changes
Target had 1,978 U.S. stores at the start of February 2025, and its results rise and fall with how many people visit them. In January 2025, the company scaled back its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Boycotts followed, and in the first quarter, traffic and comparable sales fell. We look at what changed, what the numbers show and what the episode says about brand promises and stakeholders.
Key takeaways
- On January 24, 2025, Target said it would conclude its DEI goals and stop taking part in external surveys such as the Human Rights Campaign’s index.
- Boycotts followed, including a 40-day boycott led by the Rev. Jamal Bryant that began on March 5 and later became a full boycott.
- First-quarter comparable sales fell 3.8% and transactions fell 2.4%, and Target cut its 2025 outlook to a low-single-digit sales decline.
- CEO Brian Cornell named the reaction to the January changes as one of several headwinds, alongside falling consumer confidence and tariff uncertainty.
Download the full Target Brand Check-up (PDF): vital signs, timeline, diagnosis, treatment and sources.
What Target changed in January
On January 24, 2025, Target told employees it would conclude its diversity, equity and inclusion goals, set in three-year cycles. It also said it would end a program set up in 2020, after George Floyd’s killing, to support Black employees, shoppers and businesses, which it had already planned to end in 2025, and would stop taking part in external surveys, including the Human Rights Campaign’s annual index, the Associated Press reported. A memo from Kiera Fernandez, chief community impact and equity officer, said years of “data, insights, listening and learning” had shaped the decision.
The boycotts that followed
Some opponents of the change organized boycotts. The Rev. Jamal Bryant, an Atlanta-area pastor, started a 40-day boycott on March 5, Ash Wednesday, the AP reported. On Easter Sunday, Bryant said the fast had become a full boycott. He said about 200,000 people had signed up, and the movement’s requests included putting US$250 million into Black banks.
Placer.ai data reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune showed Target’s foot traffic down 9% year over year in February and 6.5% in March. A Loop Capital Markets analyst told the paper that boycotts might play a minor role next to general economic uncertainty.
What the numbers show
Target’s 2024 net sales were US$106.6 billion, down 0.8%, with comparable sales up 0.1%. In March it guided to about 1% growth for 2025 and reported a small decline in February net sales, which its finance chief linked to unusually cold weather and declining consumer confidence.
First-quarter results on May 21 were weaker. Comparable sales fell 3.8%: stores fell 5.7% and digital rose 4.7%. Transactions fell 2.4% and the average ticket fell 1.4%. Net sales fell 2.8% to US$23.8 billion, adjusted earnings per share fell to US$1.30 from US$2.03, and Target cut its 2025 outlook to a low-single-digit sales decline. On the call, Cornell listed five straight months of declining consumer confidence, tariff uncertainty and “the reaction to the updates we shared on Belonging in January” among the quarter’s headwinds. Target said it could not reliably estimate how much each factor contributed, the AP reported.
After falling 5.2% on results day, the shares closed at US$97.53 on June 24, 2025, down 34.8% from US$149.69 a year earlier and 63.4% below the record close of US$266.39 on November 16, 2021.
The 2023 Pride backlash as background
In May 2023, Target removed some Pride Month merchandise, citing threats to its workers’ safety. “Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans,” the company said. The Human Rights Campaign’s president asked Target to put the products back on the shelves. In the second quarter of 2023, comparable sales fell 5.4%, Target’s first quarterly sales decline in six years, and executives cited economic pressures and a strong reaction to the Pride assortment.
Our diagnosis
In both episodes, some customers read a public decision as a statement about who the brand was for. The objections came from opposite directions, in 2023 over the Pride assortment and in 2025 over ending the DEI goals. Both times, comparable sales fell in the same quarter, with other causes in the mix. Part of a clear brand position is knowing which commitments customers count as part of it.
The reaction did not arrive alone. Consumer confidence was falling, tariffs were uncertain, and groceries make up less than a quarter of Target’s sales, the AP noted, so it depends more on discretionary items such as clothing. That mix makes the cause of each lost visit hard to isolate.
What growing companies can learn
A public commitment becomes part of the brand, whoever wrote it. Before you make one, decide whether you will keep it when conditions change. Before you change one, list who relied on it (customers, employees, suppliers, community partners) and tell them first, in plain terms. A messaging framework helps you say the same thing to each group.
Then read the signals weekly. Quarterly results arrive late and mix causes. Weekly traffic by region and customer group, reviewed as part of a regular marketing audit, shows where a reaction is hitting while there is still time to respond.
This check-up uses public information available on June 24, 2025. It is brand and marketing analysis, not investment advice.
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