Another massive company has rolled back its “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) initiatives, prompting celebration on social media.
In a new memo made public on January 24, retail giant Target announced that it would be putting an end to its focus on DEI, including canceling their three-year DEI goals that they pledged to achieve back in 2022. Target joins several other major companies in rolling back DEI, including Walmart, McDonald’s, John Deere, and numerous others.
The internal memo from Target’s chief community impact and equity officer Kiera Fernandez, which was obtained by CNBC, read: “Many years of data, insights, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy. And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future – all in service of driving Target’s growth and winning together.”
Target is ending its DEI initiatives. 👏 pic.twitter.com/IkwPIK36yV
— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) January 24, 2025
With these changes, Target will no longer be focusing on diversity when choosing suppliers and the company will put an end to their process of reporting to external diversity-focused groups like the radical leftist Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
Conservative anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck celebrated the news in a post on X — revealing that, like several other instances of companies abruptly ending their woke policies, Target had made the decision soon after it discovered that Starbuck was planning an exposé of their programs.
“Target is ending many of their woke policies,” he wrote. ‘I can now exclusively tell you what’s changing and how it happened. Recently executives @Target found out I was doing a story on wokeness there. When we learned they were prepared to make changes, we shifted our focus to those changes instead. Below are the changes that Target committed to. I have to give their executives credit for making these changes because it will send shockwaves in certain sectors of corporate America.”
MASSIVE news: Target is ending many of their woke policies. I can now exclusively tell you what’s changing and how it happened.
Recently executives @Target found out I was doing a story on wokeness there. When we learned they were prepared to make changes, we shifted our focus… pic.twitter.com/4R7tGIn5Fk
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 24, 2025
This is welcome news for conservatives, who have been demanding that companies adopt a “no politics” approach rather than catering to the radical left. Target was one of the biggest offenders when it came to wokeness, as it faced intense backlash in 2023 for selling a line of Pride-themed merchandise that included children’s clothing and “tuck-friendly” swimsuits for men pretending to be women. Target reportedly lost billions of dollars from the backlash:
