Retail giant Target acknowledged that its LGBT Pride Month campaign hurt its sales last quarter. Its revenue declined 5.4%, leading the company to lower its full-year earnings expectations.
The company's executives explained that they are taking customers' reaction into account for their upcoming decisions. However, they stressed that even with the drop, they will celebrate Pride month next year. "As we navigate an ever-changing operating and social environment, we are applying what we learned," Brian Cornell, Target's chief executive, said in a call with reporters picked up by The Wall Street Journal.
Cornell said the company is still working to get back to its sales numbers from previous years. He stressed that customers are prioritizing other products and that this may also have influenced the low sales. "We continue to take a cautious approach to planning our business, and have therefore adjusted our financial guidance in anticipation of continued near-term challenges on the topline. This approach, along with the long-term investments we're making in our business and strategy, position us to deliver sustainable, profitable growth in the years ahead," Cornell said in a statement released by the company on its official website.
Target Corporation Reports Second Quarter Earnings 2023 by Williams Perdomo on Scribd
It's not the first time a U.S. company has faced a decline in consumer support for a campaign related to the LGBT community. Bud Light is also going through difficult times after the controversy generated by the campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Through a statement, the company broke down its latest earnings report. Anheuser-Busch's revenue between April and June fell 10.5% in the U.S. compared to the same period the previous year.
