#BoycottTarget campaign to continue, even with new Target CEO

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Target stores have been facing a nationwide boycott throughout the first half of 2025. Now those boycotts, led by Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ organizations upset with the company’s acquiescence to the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, may have won a major victory with the exit of the company’s CEO from his position.

Brian C. Cornell, the head of Target since 2014, recently announced his resignation. His role will be taken over by Michael Fiddelke, another long-term Target employee, beginning February 1, 2026.

While Fiddelke, a 20-year Target veteran, will be the company’s new chief executive, Cornell will remain at Target as executive chair. The Associated Press reported that “Some retail analysts were surprised the board did not pick a candidate from outside the company to turn things around. Target’s stock price was down more than 8% in early morning trading after the company announced both Fiddelke’s appointment and another quarter of disappointing sales.”

Target is scrambling to find a way to boost its sales in the wake of the coast-to-coast boycotts it has been facing, and is also having to deal with President Donald Trump’s import tariffs — the company will be forced to pay more for the products it sells, most of which it buys from China.

The store has had declining sales for the first two quarters of 2025; compared to similar discount department stores, Target’s sales decreased by 3.8% in the first quarter and 1.9% in the second. “As one of the largest importers in the country, the prospect of higher tariffs meant we were facing some major financial and operational hurdles as we entered the year,” Cornell told investors during the company’s August 20th earnings call. “This was further complicated by the multiple changes in tariff policy that have been announced and implemented as the year has progressed.”

Target’s leadership claims their low sales are due to the current economic climate. During the earnings call, they hardly mentioned the nationwide boycotts it has endured.

However, Minnesota-based activists spoke out in front of the Target corporate center in Minneapolis, Minn., the day after Cornell said he would step down. Members of the Racial Justice Network (RJN), Black Lives Matter in Minnesota, and Twin Cities Metro Black Lives Matter chapter had called for the first nationwide #BoycottTarget campaign on February 1, once Target said it would adhere to Trump’s Executive Order 14173 which urged companies to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”

The activists promised to continue to apply pressure on the retailer.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), recalled that after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Target had been the first company to speak up. The company had pledged to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned and Black-founded brands by the end of 2025, but Hussein claimed Target has spent nothing near that number and that it “has historically not invested in the communities that it says that it cares about.”

“What we found out is that they lied,” he told the press conference. “Not only did they lie, but they crumbled. The leadership of Target decided that the consumers were not important enough, Black dollars were not important enough, women’s dollars were not important. They chose to be cowards instead of being courageous; they chose to stand up for greed, not for people. Target believed that this boycott would not impact them: It’s been now nearly 200 days and what all the statistics and economic data are showing is that since this Target boycott was announced … every single week since then, Target’s foot traffic in every store [has] declined sharply and continues to decline.”

Civil rights attorney and activist Dr. Nekima Levy Armstrong, who helped put the BoycottTarget campaign together, said that instead of applauding the resignation of Target’s CEO, she has been wondering why it took so long for the company to get rid of someone whose decisions had helped destroy their profits “by not addressing the simple concerns around their decision to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Levy Armstrong added that Minnesota’s activists are willing to meet with the incoming CEO but won’t do so for a photo op. “We’re calling on Target,” she said. “You have seen the damage that has been done because the people have decided to rise up and not sit on their side; to use the power of their purse to fight back against oppression, fascism, and authoritarianism.

“We oppose companies like Target that, on one hand, pretend to be community-minded, but on the other hand, have shown that they are willing to align with the Trump administration,” she continued. “We refuse to accept companies that put profits over people. Therefore, we hope Target accepts this invitation for change, which can only happen if they meet the two demands we have laid out on the table.” Those demands, Levy Armstrong said, are for Target to roll back their decision on DEI and to account for the $2.1 billion pledge that they made in 2021 after the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd

She said the pledge included commitments like including Black brands on Target shelves, increasing the company’s supplier diversity, enhancing the Black customer shopping experience, and improving hiring and promotions for Black employees.

“We expect them to show data that they have met these goals and metrics set in 2021,” she said. “They also pledged millions of dollars toward engaging more-inclusive media groups, and we want to see that happening as well … As I said, we’re standing 10 toes down; we’re asking people to double down, get involved, and hold Target accountable for its actions.”