As Pride Month kicked off in June 2025, Target quietly swapped out its signature rainbow displays in stores, replacing them with Stars and Stripes-themed merchandise and creating controversy once again with their handling of the contentious holiday, which led to lukewarm support from conservatives and outrage from pro-LGBT activists.
For context, on June 3, 2025, press accounts confirmed that Target was scaling back on its Pride Month merchandise this year and replacing it with prominently displayed patriotic clothes and accessories, which led the LGBT magazine Pride.com to call the major retail chain “pathetic” and say that Target was “bowing to bigots.”
Writing for Pride.com, Rachel Kiley clarified that Target was still running a 2025 Pride collection in some stores, but that it was not prominently displayed and was “explicitly marketed towards adults.” Kiley added, “This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that homophobes have previously thrown viral temper tantrums about anything kid-related at Target that had even a whiff of rainbow to it — regardless of whether it had anything to do with Pride or not.”
On the other hand, in a video posted on X on June 2, 2025, Turning Point USA’s Morgonn McMichael said that Target’s decision to scale back its Pride collection symbolizes “a cultural shift in our country,” adding, “Target’s pride collection is now ‘this small’ while 4th of July, Independence Day, is being celebrated galore.” McMichael added that the collection that was most prominently displayed was “very family-oriented” and “very America-oriented.”
Importantly, this isn’t the first time the retail giant has stirred up controversy with their handling of Pride Month. In 2024, Target released a fact sheet outlining their plans for that year’s Pride festivities, explaining that they were only planning on offering their Pride collection “on Target.com and in select stores, based on historical sales performance.”
Moreover, Target’s 2024 fact sheet, released on May 31 of that year, explained that while the organization was toning down its pro-Pride marketing, they would “continue to support LGBTQIA+ organizations year-round, including Human Rights Campaign, Family Equality, and more.” Furthermore, the brand claimed that it “also spotlights LGBTQ-owned brands in our assortment during Pride Month and throughout the year in our stores and online.”
In addition, more recently, Target attracted even more backlash when it announced that it was rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in early 2025, leading to massive boycotts across the country. However, USA Today reported on June 4, 2025, that speculation was growing that the boycotts were the result of “manufactured outrage” perpetrated by fake accounts on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Speaking to USA Today, a spokesperson for the company that analyzed social media related to the boycotts said, “We’ve seen this kind of behavior in disinformation campaigns tied to elections, brands and social movements around the world.” They added, “When fake profiles move in sync, mimic real users, and amplify both sides of a divisive issue, it’s a clear sign of manipulation. That’s what we saw here.”
Featured image credit: Target via X