Target lost $9 billion in value this week amid backlash to its new "Pride" collection, which features "gender neutral" children's swimsuits and LGBTQ merchandise designed by a Satanist.
Disturbed consumers called for a boycott of the liberal corporation after it released "tuck-friendly" swimsuits for girls meant to hide male genitalia and merchandise from the LGBTQ brand Abprallen, whose designer dons a "Satan respects pronouns" shirt on his Instagram page.
Falling to a similar fate as Bud Light's disastrous LGBTQ ad campaign, Target's stock dropped 12 percent since last week, the New York Post reported:
A week ago Wednesday before the controversy erupted, Target’s stock closed at $160.96 a share, giving the big-box chain a market capitalization of $74.3 billion.
As of early trading on Thursday, however, shares of the company were trading off 1% at $141.76 — capping a weeklong tumble that has shrunk the "cheap chic" discount retailer’s value to $65.3 billion.
That amounts to a 12% drop that has shaved a whopping $9 billion off the company’s market capitalization.
Target has since backtracked on its latest marketing plan, removing Abprallen items and moving its "Pride" collection to the back of stores in some states.
Target said in a statement to Reuters it was adjusting its marketing plans for the "safety" of its employees "given these volatile circumstances."
In an internal email sent to employees Thursday, Target thanked their "frontline teams and the LGBTQ community" for the "care you've shown each other" as "yesterday was a very hard day for Target." It went on to acknowledge that "today brings more reflection, pain, and the need for continued care" as the team reflects on the anniversary of George Floyd's death three years ago Thursday.
"I think that Target really soon is about to find out what happens when conservatives shop or rather don’t shop, because they are about to get Bud Light-ed," conservative commentator Tomi Lahren told Fox News on Tuesday.
"Bud light: shocks and insults their customers. Target: hold my beer," Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) tweeted.