Never appease terrorists, you'll just piss off your customer base. Double down like Nike did. It is the only way to respond, as cowards fear strength and capitalize on weakness. Target (TGT.N) has sold LGBTQ-related goods tied to Pride month for years. But last week the big-box chain removed Carnell's products, citing an increase in confrontations between customers and employees and incidents of Pride merchandise being thrown on the floor. Companies like Target that launch products and campaigns for Pride Month seek to profit from LGBTQ people but fail to stand by them when challenges arise, London-based Carnell said in an interview. "It's a very dangerous precedent to set, that if people just get riled up enough about the products that you're selling, you can completely distance yourself from the LGBT community, when and if it's convenient," said Carnell, a transgender gay man who launched his brand Abprallen in 2017. "If you're going to take a stance and say that you care about the LGBT community, you need to stand by that regardless." In a statement to Reuters last week, the company said that due to "volatile circumstances" in its stores, it was removing items at the center of the "most significant confrontational behavior."
Soon they won't have Walmart either. Where will these people shop? Walmart Under Fire for LGBTQ+ Merchandise After Target Retreats https://www.newsweek.com/walmart-lgbtq-boycott-target-pride-merch-1802394 Walmart sticks with Pride Month merchandise despite heavy backlash at Target https://nypost.com/2023/06/01/walmart-sticks-with-pride-merchandise-despite-target-backlash/
If WMT pulls back like TGT did... btfd. Lol... it would be funny if they uncovered that a lot of this was started by hedgies to get in on the cheap.