Target's Pride collection triggered a boycott that erased a decade of sales growth

In May 2023, Target rolled out its annual Pride Month merchandise collection, including a line from transgender designer Erik Carnell's Abprallen label. Some Abprallen pieces featured pentagrams and horned-skull imagery, which conservative commentators and customers seized on as evidence of a broader ideological agenda.

The backlash moved from social media into stores: customers confronted employees, tipped over Pride displays, and some locations reported abusive incidents. Target responded by pulling a portion of the roughly 2,000-item collection and relocating Pride displays to the back of some stores, citing employee safety.

The retreat satisfied neither side — LGBTQ+ advocates called it a capitulation, while the original critics kept the boycott alive. Target's comparable sales fell 5% or more in the following quarter, its first decline in six years, e-commerce sales fell over 10%, and the stock dropped nearly 20% from its mid-May level. A shareholder lawsuit later accused the company of misleading investors about the risk of its DEI-linked merchandising decisions.