I don't really shop at Target anymore. Once in a blue moon I may pop in the store, but it's rare that I even make a purchase. Now I have more reason to avoid the place.

Okay Target, I haven't shopped at you since this whole thing started, but now you are OFFICIALLY fired. You did this to yourself. Live with it.

Kmart, you are my new friend. Please behave yourself better than Walmart and Target have.

Today I saw a protest article on facebook. It advocated a 20 to 30 person group getting together and slowly filling their shopping carts with small insignificant merchandise.Then as they get about through checkout remember and then announce " I forgot, I don't shop at Target anymore." Would it really help? It would keep the stock clerks and cashiers in work.

I hate to burst everyone's bubble but, if you follow your strict criteria of politics and business--you'll never shop anywhere. Good luck with that.


:canoworms:

Diva...I think if we just make up signs and post them in our yards, on our cars, on tshirts, that would be enough. I am going right now to post it on my family FB account...lol....thanks for the bodacious outburst laugh! PERFECT!!!

half a million people have viewed this. Its on my family FB account. My family is spreading it. I love young advocates! I am glad they are carrying on the torch!

curious as to what you consider strict criteria of politics and business? i appreciate the good luck wishes, but have a sneaking suspicion that not everyone has the same criteria....

Would you care to engage in a conversation about politics and business and their relationship in terms of boycotts? The pros and cons and results over the last 50-60 years?

Or are you just having fun doing cutesy drive-by posts?

Up to you, of course. I'm game.......

edited to add: you might be surprised at what I think...........

Toughy,
I know you can explain the whys if I'm looking at this wrong. I think that any big business, like Target will donate money to candidates who further their interests the best. The Republican party is the party that protects the interests of big business. So anywhere we shop that isn't handmade or homegrown will be giving a share of their profits to the Republican party. I don't think I've ever heard of big business to care about regular people except in a token way for their own advertising. Now that businesses can give as much as they like to the politicians of their choosing we are in trouble.
The farmer workers strikes really hurt pocket books and boycotts stayed in peoples minds that way. Now boycotts are forgotten so soon by all but a few, that the big companies will still make their profit.
So sincerely, give us hope if you know how boycotts can make a difference.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to look at this.

I rarely shop at box stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Sports Authority, etc.. I live in a major urban area and there are other options for me to buy stuff.....such as locally owned business. In small town America (today) those options are almost gone....and what you get is Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is a thousand times worse than Target ever thought about being. They fuck their employees, drive out locally owned small business (the backbone of our economy), donate to any and every right wing cause you can think of and create a huge box store with a huge tree-less parking lot. And they have been doing it for years and years.

Boycotting a single huge corporation is only as useful as the publicity it can generate. Hopefully (though not likely over time) it will wake-up a few people and help them change shopping patterns from big business to small locally owned business. It also gives the individual a chance to feel good about themselves. However, switching from Target to K-Mart in the end only continues to support big business, whose goal is maximum profits generated on the backs of cheap labor and low quality products.

Delores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong organized a once in a lifetime event with the farm workers strike. The reason it worked was coalition building among different groups of farm workers. Comparing that to a big business boycott is apples and oranges.

Yes Citizens United has completely changed the political money game. It will go down in history as one of the worst SCOTUS decisions. Congress could pass some campaign finance laws that would mitigate the impact, but the likelihood of that is about equal to pissing into the wind and staying dry.

Anyway.........that's my take on boycotts in general. I'm not sure I'm giving hope to anyone with it..........you and I have the same basic feelings I think

My "cutesy drive-by" post said all it needed to say. No need to insult. I don't need to launch into a 3 page diatribe on boycotts. I'm not surprised by what you think and I happen to also agree. I like to be succinct and to-the-point. Everyone probably knows what I meant and I didn't have to bore the living snot out of them with a history lesson. Your wallet has power but you must be very thoughtful of how you use it. Also, stay educated on how all these different companies function politically. OTOH, do the best you can and shop where you need to shop. These petty "drive by" boycotts are a waste.

:formalbow:

I have boycotted products in the past for various reasons, but to me it's a different thing when a company who profits off my dollar turns around and gives that dollar to people who support my oppression - my not having the full rights of a citizen of the country I live in. It's not just an issue of right and wrong for me - although I do feel it's an issue of right and wrong. For me, spending money at these stores (or at any store that spends money or time taking away my voice and citizenship), just turns my stomach. I just can't do it. I loved target - I have lived an entire lifetime of loving target, but now I think of target as abusive and exploitative of the lgbtq community. Why would I pay somebody to take away a piece of my human dignity or my civil rights? My money is so hard-earned, giving it over to people who think so little of my worth as anything other than a specialized market is just too insurmountably vile for me to pretend otherwise.

Even when i know that my few dollars wont begin to make a ping in the corporation's pocket, i still go by what feels right to me when i decided whether to shop somewhere, or not.

It's my money and i just don't feel good giving it to someone/thing that i have an issue with.

The thing that makes me so mad about Wal-Mart and other "big box stores" is they practically force one to shop there by cutting the prices so low. Local shops have absolutely no way to compete, and sometimes have to even raise their prices to try and make up for the lost business to places like Wal-Mart.

In all of this, my thoughts are centered upon the recent Supreme Court decision that allows this kind of contribution method. This is only the begining...

I think it is hard for folks that live in areas that there are not many choices about where to buy. And the recession certainly sends people to the lowest prices. How could it not? I am not going to judge people that are having such a horrible economic time and have mouths to feed.

At this time in my life I am just not a big consumer and try to support local businesses. But, I live where I can do this. And big "ticket items" are just no longer on my list.

I just hope that people that recognize the political lunacy going on get out and vote and help get other people out to vote! And that we all put effort into being informed voters.

MSNBC rejects anti-Target ad:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nAuJj7twMI"]YouTube- Boycott Target![/nomedia]

think again
 

you'll never get away from dirty money-scroll to see Kmart in link.


http://books.google.com/books?id=szX...page&q&f=false


also

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...-walmart_x.htm

-and it can still be happening

I would say that I'm boycotting because of the donation, but that would be false... I just don't like the store..

IMO Target is worse than Walmart.... With Walmart, you know where they stand.. They are not smoozing you with one hand and then handing a check to your enemy with the other...

I'll take an honest bigot over someone who smile big at you and then calls you BEEEP as soon as you leave the room..

I think it's pretty sucky the way they handled it. I was a bit iffy on the boycott until they cointinued to be so assholish about it. I loved Target, and now that's ruined. It always had a happy feel to me before. They are fine with courting our money, they are fine with employing us, they are fine with having gay designers design their shit, but they will take that money and unapologietically put it toward an anti-gay gubanatorial candidate who would be in the position to possibly veto any gay marriage legislation over the next four years. The guy also has voted for English-only policies and has called Jan Brewer a hero, so you could say the same exact thing regarding the Latino population - Target will gladly take Latino customer money, gladly employ Latinos, but is fine with taking that profit and using it to make life much harder on the Latino population. I am so disappointed with Target I could spit.

3M: The Latest Company to Backtrack on Equality
 

Occasionally Facebook pops up with a Target ad. In the past, I have hit the "x" to get rid of the ad and either chosen "offensive" or "other" as my reason for deleting the ad. The "Other" space allows you to explain why you are deleting the ad. Twice now, my explanation has been, "I am gay." Not sure how many characters are available, but I want at every opportunity to send this message somewhere.

Now, facebook is allowing people to leave a comment under the ad, so this was my comment tonight:

Not sure what happens to the comments or what the point is or who sees why I'd be deleting the ad or if it makes any difference at all, but it sure feels better and at least I don't have to look at their smug ads.

I thought maybe I would be done boycotting them once Emmer lost, but I seem to feel just as betrayed by them as when it all went down. My straight friends are back to talking about their trips to Target, and I noticed Ellen mentioned Target casually in a segment recently as though she goes there, but they are not getting any more dollars directly out of my wallet. I am not over it apparently. In my eyes, they have lost all their magic.

And now Target is going after the unions.... bad Target! Bad bad!! :annoyed:

http://gawker.com/5808299/heres-targ...ion-propaganda