Consumer Boycotts target DEI retreats—are they working? What we know.
Consumer boycotts are targeting companies like Amazon and Target, who’ve rolled back DEI initiatives, but are they working? Here’s what we know.
A yearlong national consumer boycott of Target over its diversity, equity and inclusion rollbacks is ending without any changes to the retail giant’s policy.
One of the boycott’s leaders told USA TODAY he made the decision after “productive” conversations with the retail giant and its CEO Michael Fiddelke.
Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant, the senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta, said in an exclusive interview that the boycott made significant progress and he would continue to hold Target accountable to Black shoppers, employees and communities.
But in materials Bryant’s organization provided to USA TODAY, Target did not offer concessions or reverse changes the company made to its DEI and other policies after President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.
“There are no new commitments, no reversals,” Ebony Porter-Ike, a spokesperson for Bryant confirmed.
Bryant said he is satisfied that Target remains committed to DEI, even as a second national boycott vowed to continue its protest.
“They have a program called Belonging, which gives access to everybody, not just for entry-level positions, but to be able to ascend into C-suites,” he told USA TODAY. “It is essentially DEI as I read it. It is the exact same thing.”
In a statement to USA TODAY, Target said it was “more committed than ever to creating growth and opportunity for all.”
“We’re pleased to be moving forward, and we will continue showing up as trusted neighbors while delivering results for our team members, guests and the more than 2,000 communities in which we serve,” the company said in an emailed statement. “Because when those communities thrive, so do we.”
‘This Target boycott is not over’
The leaders of the first declared national boycott held a press conference in front of Target’s Minneapolis headquarters on March 11 to distance themselves from the Bryant announcement and to pledge they would continue shunning the company until their demands are met, particularly on DEI.
“How can you call off a boycott focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and have no results to show for it? That is a slap in the face for the people,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, founder of the Racial Justice Network. “But who’s standing here? The people who actually called the boycott. The people who were actually willing to hold this company accountable and are not willing to compromise with Target Corporation until they do the right thing by the people of Minnesota and the people across this nation.”
Armstrong called on shoppers to continue to avoid Target. “This Target boycott is not over,” she said.
DEI pullback hurt Target
Once one of the loudest corporate supporters of Black America, Target joined a broad retreat from DEI policies shortly after Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at eliminating “illegal DEI” in the federal government and the private sector.
Target backtracked on efforts to boost representation of Black employees and support Black-owned suppliers, saying it needed to stay in step with “the evolving external landscape.”
Racial equity emerged as a top priority for the retail giant after the 2020 killing of George Floyd a few miles from its Minneapolis headquarters, including a pledge to increase the number of Black employees across the company by 20%. Another program focused on routing more of Target’s business to Black suppliers.
At the time, Target said it remained committed to creating a “sense of belonging” for its employees and customers “through a commitment to inclusion.”
The backlash was swift for the retail giant that for years profited from its support of Black communities and Black-owned brands. Widespread protests from church pastors and other community activists, including Bryant, erupted over Target’s decision to end the workforce and supplier diversity programs.
The DEI boycotts contributed to a sharp pullback in consumer spending in the first quarter of 2025.
“Why did we pick Target first? And the answer to that, resoundingly, is Target is the only one we invited to the cookout,” Bryant said at a news conference March 11 announcing the boycott’s end.
Target turning away from its DEI commitments was “not just an abandonment of DEI, we felt as if it was a betrayal to it.”
Another Target boycott still going strong
Bryant was not the first to call for a Target boycott.
Armstrong, Monique Cullars-Doty, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-Minnesota, launched a boycott last February over the retailer’s DEI rollbacks and its commitment to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025.
That Target boycott has now entered year two.
“They have not made a single concession…they have not made a single change to their policies and they are staying the course on their plan to continue to deny diversity, equity and inclusion in this company,” Hussein said during the Minneapolis press conference.
The People’s Union started with a one-day economic blackout last February and then held a series of boycotts against retailers including Target through much of 2025. But People’s Union Founder John Schwarz told USA TODAY on March 10 that he is not focused on individual corporate boycotts.
“What we have really seen develop is something broader. People are becoming much more intentional about how and where they spend their money,” Schwarz told USA TODAY.
How Target got caught in crosshairs
Corporations across the country have reeled back DEI programs to avoid inviting scrutiny from the White House. Diversity goals to boost the Black workforce and leadership ranks have been tabled. Supplier diversity programs have been rebranded and no longer consider race or gender.
The DEI retreat put Target in a tricky position because of its vocal endorsement of DEI.
Seizing on calls from shoppers for boycotts, Bryant launched his Target Fast on March 5, 2025 to coincide with the start of the Lenten season. Bryant told USA TODAY that he was trying to re-engage the Black church, “which had largely been outside of the political conversation.”
Bryant’s boycott made four demands of Target. He asked Target to fulfill its commitment to invest $2 billion in Black businesses; make deposits of $250 million in 23 Black-owned banks; open 10 retail training centers at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); and reverse the January decision to end some of the company’s DEI commitments.
Bryant said Target made progress in three of four demands. The demand to make deposits to Black-owned banks has not yet been fulfilled and Bryant said his group has connected Target with Black-owned banks and he hopes they will “cross the finish line.”
Target said it would “soon” fulfill the $2 billion commitment to Black businesses.
Bryant also said Target has committed to a pilot program with a HBCU to provide job readiness and internship programs and that the commitment will eventually expand to a total of 12 institutions.
Will Target shoppers return?
More than 300,000 people signed the pledge on the Target Fast website to boycott the retailer, according to Bryant.
A group of protesters picketed a Washington, D.C. Target store every Saturday throughout the boycott to discourage people from shopping at Target.
It remains to be seen if these shoppers will return.
Increasingly shoppers of all political stripes are collectively wielding their wallets to make their beliefs known at the cash register. But consumer boycotts have a mixed track record. While conservative activists successfully put pressure on Target and other companies, many such efforts don’t pack a big enough economic wallop.
“It takes 30 days to create a habit and a year out, the onus of that responsibility rests on the shoulders of Target and how it is that they lure people back,” Bryant told USA TODAY. “A lot of people have figured out to do life without them.”
At the news conference in Washington, D.C., civil rights activist Tamika Mallory and Nina Turner, founder of We Are Somebody, said the boycott was ending, but the struggle was not.
According to Mallory, Fiddelke acknowledged the harm to Black employees and customers from Target’s DEI rollbacks during an internal company meeting but has yet to take public responsibility.
“My mother would like an apology too and she does not work for Target. So we sat across the table from the CEO and we asked Mr. Fiddelke: ‘When will you acknowledge the harm that has been caused to the Black community outside of your employee meeting?'” she said. “To date that has not happened. So I ask again today when will Target acknowledge the harm that has been caused to our community?”
In the meantime, Black Americans will have to decide for themselves if they want to return to shopping at Target, Turner said.
“I am not encouraging people to go back to shop at Target,” she said. “Ultimately, people have to make their own decision. But as for me and my house, we will not be going back to Target.”
This story has been updated with new information.
