Target is one of several major companies—including Amazon, Meta, McDonald’s, Walmart, and Ford—to announce it is scaling back or completely getting rid of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives in line with President Donald Trump’s agenda, ABC News reported.
People are already boycotting.
On the day Trump was sworn into office for the second time, he signed an executive order rescinding DEI policies in the federal government and encouraged the private sector to follow his lead.
But other companies—like Costco, Ben and Jerry’s, JPMorgan, and Apple—have stated that they remain committed to DEI, NBC News reported.
While Trump seems to be targeting people across race, sex, gender, sexuality, ability, and serving status (among other things) with his removal of these programs, historically, it’s white women who’ve benefitted the most from them, from college campuses to corporate, Forbes and CBS reported.
Black-owned brands gone?
In a viral video with more than 2.3 million views, hairstylist Trenerra Jackson (@trenerra.jackson) shared the wild thing she saw at Target.
Jackson explained that someone told her that the local Target had all the Black hair care products on sale for 50% to 70% (which is super rare).
When she went to see for herself, Jackson was astounded to see that many shelves were nearly empty.
“They tryna get us outta here,” Jackson said, referencing the DEI rollback. “You not gonna tell me that that’s not what this is.”
The Daily Dot checked online and Target was not running this promotion, but it’s possible its in-store only.
Removing DEI is bad for business
The research proves that companies that value DEI, from who’s in leadership positions to what products they sell, tend to perform better financially, NBC reports.
For example, a 2023 study found that companies with women in executive leadership have a 39% higher chance of being profitable.
Another study found that companies with more diverse management teams have “19% higher revenue due to innovation compared to companies with below-average diversity.”
Commenters have mixed reactions
“I told yall stop shopping at that boogie ahh yt ahh store!! F TARGET,” the top comment, with more than 21,000 likes, read.
“Nothing to do with DEI I was a manager at a retail store this is what companies do every year. When new inventory is about to come they mark down the old products down to get rid of it to make room,” a person shared.
“Yall not understanding wat Tabitha brown was saying it’s sad how our own don’t understand,” another added.
@trenerra.jackson ???? #fyp #target ♬ original sound – trenerra.jackson
The Daily Dot reached out to Jackson for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to Target via email.
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