Judge rules Target must face shareholder lawsuit over Pride Month backlash
A federal judge in Florida says Targetwill have to face a lawsuit from a shareholder over the fallout from its sales of LGBTQ-themed merchandise last year. The suit accuses Target of misleading shareholders about the retail giant’s efforts to protect the company from social and political risks.
They allege the company overlooked the risks of embracing company policies under the frameworks of ESG, or “environmental, social and governance,” as well as DEI, or “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Investors said in their court filing that Target “neglected to mention the known risk of adverse customer and stockholder reactions to its ESG/DEI mandates in general, and its ‘Pride Month’ campaigns in particular.”
Target had urged the judge to throw the lawsuit out. The company said they acknowledged the risk of the campaigns. They say the suit is based only on the investor not liking the company’s business decisions.
The judge’s ruling against Target means the case will proceed. However, whether it will continue in Florida is the next legal question.
The judge said he will handle Target’s request to move the case to its home jurisdiction in Minnesota in a future order.
Uniqlo risks boycott in China after CEO’s controversial Xinjiang comment
A Japanese retailer is facing a boycott in China after comments about where it sources its cotton. The global fashion chain Uniqlo is owned by Fast Retailing. The chief executive, Tadashi Yanai, told the BBC they don’t get cotton from China’s Xinjiang region.
“We’re not using cotton from Xinjiang,” Yanai said. “By mentioning which cotton we’re using … actually, it gets too political if I say anymore so let’s stop here.”
Critics in China latched onto the comment and urged a boycott of the brand.
Outside of China, using Xinjiang cotton is controversial after advocacy groups and the U.S. government accused the region of using Uyghur Muslims for forced labor production.
People on the Chinese social media platform Weibo are amplifying those calls to boycott Uniqlo, a daunting threat for any company reliant on the huge customer base China provides.
“With this kind of attitude from Uniqlo and their founder being so arrogant … they’re probably betting that mainland consumers will forget about it in a few days and continue to buy,” One person posted. “So can we stand firm this time?”
Labor allegations against China
In 2018, the U.S. State Department estimated that up to 2 million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups were detained in camps in the Xinjiang region.
The Chinese government denies any forced labor, insisting they are vocational training schools.
However, the BBC reported online documents uncovered evidence that upwards of half a million minority workers a year are picking cotton under forced conditions.
Worldwide impact
The issue is a big one for retailers worldwide. In 2021, China wiped H&M from e-commerce stores nationwide after the company decided to stop using cotton from Xinjiang.
And in September 2024, China’s Commerce Ministry launched an investigation into the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, saying they suspected the company was “unjustly boycotting” Xinjiang cotton and other products “without factual basis.”
Molson Coors latest to back away from DEI after conservative pressure
A major beer company is backing away from corporate diversity initiatives. The company took action this week after a conservative activist reportedly told the CEO he planned to expose the company for its “woke policies.” However, the company told Straight Arrow News the shift began in March.
Molson Coors sent a memo to employees this week ending its “DEI” policies, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. In the memo which SAN also obtained, the company said it would stop linking executive incentives to employee representation, cancel supplier diversity goals, and stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index.
Last year, Molson Coors scored a perfect 100 on the index. HRC labeled it a leader in workplace inclusion, with perfect scores in workforce protections, inclusive benefits, inclusive training and culture, and corporate social responsibility.
Molson Coors said in the memo these changes away from DEI won’t change employee benefits or the culture and that, “We will continue to welcome everyone at our bar.”
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck is claiming credit for the beer company’s pivot after he says he engaged with Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley last week.
However, the memo sent to employees Tuesday reads, “In March our HR team began rolling out the next steps of our culture journey, centered on an evolution from our work focused on DEI to a broader view in which all our employees know they are welcome.”
DEI is the latest corporate strategy under attack by conservatives. Companies have been including diversity in business practices since the civil rights movement. But DEI has had a target on it in recent years and this year especially, corporations are backing down.
Coors ends up escaping a potential boycott bullet that hit its competitor, Anheuser-Busch. Bud Light sales tanked after the company gave transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a can with her face on it, and they never did recover. As Bud Light showed, beer can be especially vulnerable to a successful, sustained boycott.
“People felt that they had an impact and that’s because Bud Light and Anheuser Busch are publicly traded companies and their data is released on a quarterly basis about how their sales were impacted, and also is released on a weekly basis because there are organizations that get the grocery store data, they get convenience store data, and they can show that the sales are down,” explained Anson Frericks, a former Anheuser-Busch executive and co-founder of Strive Asset Management with Vivek Ramaswamy.
When Bud Light toppled from its place as America’s best-selling beer, Modelo Especial took its spot at the top. Bud Light is still falling, now in No. 3, but Molson Coors brands Coors Light and Miller Lite are still below it, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights sales data in July.
Conservatives want to give Dunkin’ Donuts the ‘Bud Light treatment’
Conservatives want to give Dunkin’ Donuts the Bud Light treatment. Calls to boycott the coffee giant’s more than 13,000 locations are splattered across social media with the hashtag #BoycottDunkinDonuts.
It all started when Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of Rumble, YouTube’s conservative counterpart, said Dunkin’ didn’t want to advertise on his site because of its “right wing culture.”
His post revealed what appears to be a private email with someone from Dunkin’s parent company Inspire Brands. The email reads, “To be honest, I would be opposed to showing up on the current version of the platform – the right wing culture of the site is too polarizing from a brand suitability standpoint today.”
Pavlovski said Rumble pitched Dunkin’ because “Rumble over indexes with coffee consumption.”
Rumble joined a separate antitrust lawsuit instigated by X against the World Federation for Advertisers, accusing the trade group and certain companies of collectively boycotting conservative sites. Dunkin’ Donuts and its parent company are not named in that suit.
“If you’re an advertiser and you don’t want to advertise on Rumble or X, that’s totally fine, you have the option to do that,” Pavlovski said on Fox Business, distinguishing between individual advertising decisions versus a collective group boycott.
While in Pavlovski’s own words, Dunkin’ has the option not to advertise on Rumble, he also has the option to publicly out the company for that decision.
Conservative boycotters hope America chooses not to run on Dunkin’. They’re a force to be reckoned with: Bud Light still hasn’t recovered from its decision to do a brand partnership with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney more than a year ago. But will a dunk on Dunkin’ be as successful?
Straight Arrow News tapped former Anheuser Busch executive Anson Frericks, who was critical of Bud Light’s botched boycott response, for his insights.
He said boycotts need two things to be successful: One is a boycotted product that is easily replaced with other options, and the other is that the boycotters feel like they’re having an impact.
“Now in this case for Dunkin’ Donuts, there’s definitely easily available options that are not Dunkin’ Donuts,” Frericks said. “People can go across the street to 7-Eleven to get coffee. They can go to local coffee shops, local donut shops. So there’s readily available other options that are there and I think some customers, they will leave. So that’s not good for Dunkin’.
“But I don’t think that this is one’s going to be sustained like the Bud Light one. Bud Light sales are still down 30% the year after they partnered with Dylan Mulvaney, partly because people felt that they had an impact.
“And that’s because Bud Light and Anheuser Busch are publicly traded companies and their data is released on a quarterly basis about how their sales were impacted and also released on a weekly basis because there are organizations that get the grocery store data, they get convenience store data, and they can show that the sales are down.
“Dunkin’, on the other hand, is a privately held company. It’s owned by Inspire Brands so they don’t have to report how sales are doing on a quarterly basis. And since most of their products are sold through their own stores, there’s not easily or readily available data that’s going to show the impact of sales.
“That’s gonna starve this story of the news cycle and the news media, unfortunately. And probably lucky for Dunkin’ that this is probably going to die out, although in the future, I think they should be more careful not get involved in these sort of situations and basically say that they’re not going to advertise to half the population because they are going to lose some customers. I just don’t know for how long.”
In Frericks opinion, Dunkin’ Donuts should not stay silent and try to let this blow over.
“I think what Dunkin’ can do is just come out and be super clear early on and say, ‘Guys, we made a mistake.’ I don’t know who did this at Dunkin’ Donuts where they said, ‘We don’t want to associate with right-wing media.’ You just say, ‘Hey, listen, we want all customers. We’re Dunkin’ Donuts. We don’t care what political spectrum you are. We want people that love our coffee and love our brands.’ I think as long as they do that, I think this will blow over pretty quickly,” Frericks said. “And then they just need to be clear moving forward that they’re going to advertise to all their customers across whatever platforms those might be.”
As for concerns Dunkin’ might have that its ads pop up with content it feels hurts its brand image, Frericks said there are always ways around that.
“They should just be very simple on Rumble. Like, ‘Hey, we want to be on Rumble, but we want to advertise on videos about people that are eating donuts or drinking coffee,’ he said. “You don’t have to mention Alex Jones. You don’t have to mention the other people. Just be clear about the videos that you do want to have. And then, if you want to avoid certain, more political-type figures, that’s okay. They can avoid certain political figures, but I wouldn’t necessarily avoid platforms.”
Paris Olympics opening ceremony sparks controversy, calls for boycott
The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics ignited significant controversy and sparked calls for a boycott. The response follows what critics have interpreted as a controversial reimagining of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting, “The Last Supper.”
The ceremony featured a fashion show with a performance that included drag performers seated around a table, with a woman positioned at the center — a spot traditionally associated with Jesus Christ in the famous painting. Additionally, a French actor dressed as Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, was seated atop the table.
Critics, including Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, have condemned the performance as an affront to Christian sensibilities.
In posts on X, Johnson labeled the performance as “shocking and insulting to Christian people around the world” and Salvini criticized it as a poor start for the Olympic Games.
American fitness coach Jillian Michaels also expressed disapproval, arguing that the performance undermines calls for mutual respect and tolerance.
In response to the backlash, some companies have opted to withdraw their advertisements from the Paris Games. Social media platforms are also seeing a surge in calls for a boycott of the Olympics.
On the other hand, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, has defended the performance.
Jolly clarified that the segment was intended as a depiction of Dionysus and a celebration of pagan festivities, not a reinterpretation of “The Last Supper.” He emphasized that the goal of the performance was to promote a message of love and inclusion. The official Olympics account on X echoed this sentiment, stating that the portrayal of Dionysus aimed to highlight the absurdity of violence among people.
Anne Descamps, a spokesperson for the Paris Olympics, later addressed the criticism, asserting that there was no intention to offend any religious group. The spokesperson reiterated that the opening ceremony was meant to celebrate community and tolerance, and expressed regret for any offense taken.
Despite the controversy, the opening ceremony attracted a high viewership, with nearly 29 million people tuning in. That surpassed the 17 million who watched the Tokyo 2021 Olympics opening ceremony.
Netanyahu to meet with Biden following his speech to Congress
A day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to Congress and President Joe Biden gave a primetime address on exiting the 2024 race, the two are set to meet in Washington, D.C. on July 25. And more details on what you need to know about breaking, the newest sport at the Olympic games. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Thursday, July 25, 2024.
Netanyahu to meet with Biden following his speech to Congress
Biden is expected to press Netanyahu in getting a hostage and ceasefire deal solidified. U.S. officials said it’s a critical moment in negotiations over the deal — something Biden said will be a priority with the time he has left in office.
Israeli negotiators were expected to travel to Qatar Thursday, but Netanyahu ordered them not to, saying he wanted to wait until after he meets with Biden before Israel goes back to the negotiating table.
After meeting with Biden, Netanyahu is expected to meet with Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He’s set to meet with Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump on Friday, July 26.
In his address to Congress, Netanyahu thanked the U.S. for backing Israel’s war against Hamas with weapons support.
“The vast majority of Americans have not fallen for this Hamas propaganda,” Netanyahu said. “They continue to support Israel. And I want to say thank you America and thank you senators and House members who continue to support us, continue to support Israel, continue to support the truth and see through the lies.”
His speech was met with protests in and outside the Capitol building. Thousands of protesters gathered nearby, some burning an American flag and an effigy of Netanyahu.
Dozens of congressional Democrats also boycotted the address. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., held a sign reading “war criminal” while Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday, July 24.
President Biden addresses nation on decision to drop out of 2024 race
“The idea of America lies in voters’ hands,” Biden said about the 2024 election. “Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition. So, I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation.”
For the remaining six months of his term, Biden said he plans to focus on the job of the presidency, including plans to continue lowering costs for families.
In his address, President Biden also reiterated his support for Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket.
“I made my choice,” Biden said. “I’ve made my views known. I’d like to thank our great vice president, Kamala Harris. She’s experienced. She’s tough. She’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country.”
Harris is reportedly vetting around a dozen possible running mates, including governors, members of Congress, current cabinet secretaries and some people who don’t currently hold public office. Her pick is expected to be made public sometime before Aug. 7.
FBI: Gunman Googled JFK shooting a week before Trump assassination attempt
Alarming new information has surfaced about the assassination attempt on former President Trump. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress on Wednesday, July 24, and revealed that a week before opening fire, Thomas Crooks, the gunman, looked up the shooting distance in the killing of President John F. Kennedy on the internet.
Specifically, Wray said Thomas Crooks Googled, “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?”
The FBI director said these words are significant in terms of the shooter’s state of mind. An FBI analysis of Crooks’ laptop found he did the search on the same day he registered for Trump’s rally.
Wray also told lawmakers about a shocking security lapse in the sky. He said the gunman scoped out the ally site with a drone — possibly even live-streaming — just two hours before the former president took the stage.
A CBS News analysis found Crooks fired eight bullets in less than six seconds before being shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
House lawmakers have voted to create a new congressional task force in hopes of answering more questions about the events leading up to Trump’s near assassination. The legislation to approve the investigation passed by a vote of 416-0.
NORAD intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers off Alaska coast
NORAD detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24, 2024. NORAD fighter jets from the United States and Canada conducted the intercept.https://t.co/EKg3G30lmW
— North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) July 24, 2024
Officials said the bombers did not enter U.S. airspace but did get close enough that the U.S. and Canada sent fighter jets to intercept them. According to NORAD, the incident was “not seen as a threat.”
A U.S. defense official said this was the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
NBA signs 11-year deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon
The NBA has confirmed where viewers will be seeing its games next season. After rejecting a $1.8 billion offer to keep airing games with Warner Bros. Discovery, the NBA signed an 11-year agreement with Disney, NBC and Amazon.
The deal is reportedly worth an estimated $76 billion. However, the agreement is likely to bring a legal showdown between the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery. The media company said it believes the NBA can’t reject its offer and said it will take “appropriate action.”
For anyone doubting breaking being a sport, USA Breakin’s Ricardo Fernandez Jr. told Straight Arrow News there’s no reason to question. Fernandez is credited with creating the blueprint for competitive breaking competitions and can talk about its rich history dating back to its origins in the Bronx in the 1970s.
“We were breaking to the break of the record, so now you see where the name comes from, the record has a break and that break is the percussion drum part that was longated by the DJ,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said breaking comes down to discipline and athleticism.
Some of the most athletic people in the world are Breakers. And in 2024 breakin’ culture will make its official debut as a sport at the Summer Olympic games in Paris, France. pic.twitter.com/wzWZ2K7xlj
“You take the athleticism and you put two individuals or a group to compete against each other constantly, you are already creating the atmosphere for it to become marketable,” he said. “Breaking, you have to be athletic to achieve what you see now.”
Team USA will be represented by four athletes called breakers: Jeffrey “B-Boy Jeffro” Louis, who wrote a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to get breaking to be part of the games just a few years ago; Logan Edra, who started breaking at age 7, was given the nickname “Logistix” by her father; Sunny Choi who picked up the sport while a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania; and Victor Montalvo, the first American to qualify, whose father and uncle were breaking pioneers.
Fernandez, known in the breaking world as B-boy Speedy Legs, has seen the sport evolve from his days of teaching it to kids in 1980s Miami to showing off his power moves in New York in the 1990s.
“I dedicated my life to breaking, in every aspect, in the art form, in the athleticism, in the competitiveness and also helped create the platform that would take it to the Olympics,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez started the B-Boy Masters Pro-Am, one of the first breaking competitions, as he tried to grow the sport and everything that comes with it. That includes the moves like top rock, the music from the DJ and the overall hip-hop culture that inspires the art form.
“I put together the first elements of how to judge it cause it was really hard to judge breaking because if I talked to some of the guys with whom I was down with in the beginning I know that they thought I was probably corny about implementing something like that,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez created a 5-element judging system, one he said is very similar to how the breakers will be judged at the Olympics. In Paris, breakers will be judged on musicality, vocabulary, originality, technique and execution.
Though Fernandez said some heated politics between organizations emerged during breaking’s path to the Olympics, he knows his sport’s place on the world’s biggest stage will help it grow even more.
“I believe when it gets exposure in the next two to three weeks, it’s going to be phenomenal,” Fernandez said. “I believe it’s going to create more opportunities not only for the first four athletes from the United States to make history, but also to create new outlets for the youth.”
VP Harris secures enough delegate support to become Democratic nominee
The Democratic Party rallies around Kamala Harris, with the vice president securing enough delegate support to be the party’s nominee. And the story of a 21-year-old archer looking to make her mark at the Olympics. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
VP Harris secures enough delegate support to become Democratic nominee
Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the majority of Democratic delegates’ support across more than half of U.S. states — enough to potentially win the party’s nomination to become the presidential candidate. Harris will make her first campaign stop in Wisconsin Tuesday, July 23, as endorsements and donations continue to pour in.
She could become the party’s nominee by Aug. 7, when delegates vote in a Democratic National Convention “virtual roll call” well ahead of the actual convention on Aug. 19.
Harris has also secured another big endorsement — former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And in the first 24 hours of campaigning, Harris raised a staggering $81 million.
On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump’s newly announced vice presidential pick J.D. Vance made his first solo campaign appearance in Virginia on Monday, July 22, during which he said Vice President Harris “is a million times worse” than President Joe Biden at the head of the Democratic ticket.
Netanyahu visits the U.S. to meet with Biden, Harris, Congress
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in the U.S. for a visit with top political leaders. A meeting with President Joe Biden is reportedly to take place on Thursday, July 25, as the president recovers from COVID-19, with the White House saying he’s nearly symptom-free.
On Wednesday, July 24, Netanyahu is set to deliver a speech to Congress. He’s expected to thank the U.S. for its ongoing support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
Netanyahu is focused on shoring up bipartisan support for Israel as the country continues to fight not only Hamas but is facing growing security threats from Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon and Yemen.
Netanyahu says Israel will still be a “key U.S. ally” to whoever replaces lame-duck President Joe Biden.
The prime minister is also expected to meet with presidential candidate Kamala Harris during his visit. Reports show he has also reached out to former President Trump to potentially meet with him before departing the U.S., but it’s unclear if that meeting will take place this week.
In their appeal Monday, July 22, Trump’s attorneys called the ruling “draconian” and repeated arguments they used during the bench trial The attorneys said allegations made by New York’s attorney general were outside the statute of limitations and revolved around deals that had “no victims and no losses.”
A spokesperson for the New York State attorney general said they are confident this appeal will go nowhere.
An appeals court says it will hear oral arguments in late September.
House Republicans want CrowdStrike CEO to testify over outage
Congress is calling on CrowdStrike’s CEO to testify over the July 19 outage that grounded multiple airlines, knocked banks and hospitals offline, and impacted millions around the world. Impacts from the software glitch are still being felt, especially by Delta Air Lines.
Delta saw hundreds more flight cancellations on Monday, July 22, due to its “crew-tracking software” still not working right after CrowdStrike’s disruption.
Republican leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee said they want CEO George Kurtz to explain what exactly went wrong.
So far, it has been revealed a glitched update to CrowdStrike’s security software caused computers powered by Microsoft Windows to crash. Microsoft said on Saturday, July 20, about 8.5 million devices were affected.
Lawmakers call on Secret Service director to resign during testimony
On Monday, July 22, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before Congress. She answered questions surrounding Trump’s near assassination at a Pennsylvania rally.
Since her testimony, both Democrats and Republicans are ramping up their calls for the director to resign over what they call a “botched operation.”
“It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told her.
“If you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president or a candidate, you need to resign,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., added.
Cheatle responded, saying, “I think that I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”
Members were openly frustrated with Cheatle and demanded answers about the agency’s planning for the rally and the ongoing investigation into the shooting. She was largely unable or unwilling to provide information.
“I’m unable to answer details of exactly how the individual accessed the roof at this time,” Cheatle said. “I personally do not review security plans for events that take place across the country.”
You can read more in Ray Bogan’s full report here.
FAA investigating Southwest flight that flew just 150 ft. over Tampa waters
Federal investigators want to know why a Southwest Airlines jet flew as low as 150 feet above water while still five miles out from the Tampa Bay airport where it was set to land. The incident happened on July 14.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that far out from its designated landing spot, the plane should have been more than 1,000 feet above the water.
The flight from Columbus, Ohio was flying through stormy weather when it happened and ended up being rerouted to Fort Lauderdale as a result of the storms.
A similar incident happened last month in Oklahoma City, when a Southwest jet flew unusually low while still miles away from the airport. The FAA is still investigating that incident, as well.
21-year-old archer looking to make her mark at Olympic games
A 21-year-old archer is looking to make her mark at her first Olympic games as a member of Team USA. San Diego’s Catalina Gnoriega is on target for the Paris games.
“It’s a dream come true,” Gnoriega said. “There are so many people who dream of that for so long and work so hard. It’s really such a good feeling. It’s a dream come true to be able to say I made it. I’m going to go compete there.”
First picking up the bow and arrow at age 12, Gnoriega gravitated to the independence the sport provides an athlete and the opportunity to hone your craft while staying in the zone.
“It’s hard to pinpoint what it is exactly, but I like that it’s individual and like I’m able to focus on myself, I was always like that, especially when I was a kid, that drew me in,” Gnoriega said. “All I had to do was show up and shoot.”
Now 21, whether she’s competing as an individual or part of a team, Gnoriega will have her parents there in Paris to cheer her on. She says they’re the ones who supported her through it all, as she proudly represents her Mexican-American heritage as a member of Team USA.
“It’s crazy,” Gnoriega said. “It’s such an honor. It’s crazy to think that I’m on the same team as someone like Simone Biles and these other people who are incredible — I’m on that same team. That’s such an incredible feeling. I just can’t believe it.”
And she’s now on the hunt for her next target — Olympic medals.
“The goal would be to get medals, but overall, I just want to go have fun,” Gnoriega said. “Do what I know how to do. Just shoot and trust myself and enjoy it because it, hopefully, it’s not just once, but it’s kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I just want to enjoy it.”
Tractor Supply ends DEI initiatives amid conservative pressure, faces new boycott
Tractor Supply Co. is facing controversy after recent decisions regarding its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives sparked reaction from both ends of the political spectrum. On June 6, conservative commentator Robby Starbuck posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, calling for a boycott and criticizing the company’s DEI programs and environmental advocacy efforts.
Since calls for a boycott first began circulating, Tractor Supply’s stock value declined by 5%. In response to customer feedback and pressure, Tractor Supply’s CEO issued a statement outlining significant changes in the company’s approach.
“We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them,” the letter said. “We have taken this feedback to heart.”
Tractor Supply announced the elimination of DEI-specific roles and goals, while reaffirming its commitment to maintaining a respectful workplace environment. The company also disclosed plans to shift focus away from carbon emission goals towards land and water conservation efforts.
Additionally, Tractor Supply will cease sponsorship of non-business-related activities such as Pride festivals and political campaigns.
While the move was welcomed by conservatives advocating for the boycott, it was criticized among liberal groups and organizations.
John Boyd Jr., the National Black Farmers Association president, criticized the decision, calling it a step backward for race relations, particularly in rural America. The association hinted at potential calling for their own boycott if Tractor Supply does not reconsider its stance.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron also restricted the former president from doing business in New York after ruling Trump inflated his net worth to benefit his companies.
The truckers supporting Trump said if the city doesn’t want Trump doing business there, then they will pull their business and refuse to transport goods to New York City.
The truckers took to social media to offer their support for Trump and encourage other truckers to refuse to carry loads to the city.
“We’re gonna stand for something man. We’re gonna stand for Trump, man,” one trucker posted on X. “What I’m hearing over here, this is on man, this is on.”
Trump acknowledged the truckers’ efforts on his platform Truth Social, calling it “an honor to have so many great patriots on the side of freedom.”
It is unclear how widespread the proposed boycott will be or the impact it may have on New York.
Target cites Pride merch protests in sales drop report, other retailers see increases
The month of July saw higher-than-expected sales in the world of retail except for Target, which saw the opposite trend. Target’s second quarterly sales report shows that sales dropped for the first time in six years.
This sales dip followed the release of merchandise celebrating Pride Month back in June. A tuck-friendly bathing suits for male-to-female transgender individuals caused controversy and led to a boycott.
Some media headlines also suggested the reason for the sales drop with headlines such as “Pride Month backlash hurt Target’s sales” and “Target sales drop after ‘negative reaction’ to Pride Month collection.”
Target CEO Brian Cornell said the boycott likely contributed to the change in sales, but believes things are starting to stabilize.
Cornell says Target continue to celebrate Pride, however it will make changes for future Pride Month collections.
“We’ll continue to celebrate Pride and other heritage moments, which are just one part of our commitment to support a diverse team and guests,” Cornell said. “As we navigate an ever changing operating and social environment, we’re applying what we’ve learned to ensure we’re staying close to our guests and their expectations of Target.”
Despite Target’s dip, retail sales overall never dipped from May to July, and spending saw a 2.3% year-over-year increase, with Walmart seeing sales up 6%. Consumer spending as a whole was up in the month of July and hit a record high in the second quarter.
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