this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2025
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Brian Cornell to be replaced next year as retailer navigates boycott over its scaling back of DEI initiatives

The CEO of Target is stepping down, as the embattled retail giant seeks to turn around its fortunes amid an ongoing customer boycott over its scaling back of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Brian Cornell will be replaced next year by Michael Fiddelke, Target’s chief operating officer, the company said on Wednesday.

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[–] teft@piefed.social 199 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Steps "down" to a position on the board of directors....which the new ceo will report to.

[–] kaitco@lemmy.world 102 points 2 days ago (3 children)

This is the most important part of this whole “we did it, Reddit” moment.

This is entirely a PR move and not actually going to do anything.

[–] witten@lemmy.world 61 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The "we did it" moment is their sales being down and staying down. The CEO thing is just icing. I'm cool with them rearranging deck chairs and putting in a new CEO who will also preside over falling sales numbers due to the continued boycott.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago

Yep, all they really care about is the money, and they have less of it, and will for a long time. They can measure their decrease, and know exactly how much their cowardice cost their company, and then they can look at the declining stock price, and know how much it is costing them personally. They are all extremely unhappy.

And getting a demotion from CEO to Board Member is still a humiliating day at the office. It may not seem like much to us rubes in the trenches, but to those C-suite guys, it's super embarrassing. Everybody at the country club will know you got your heinie spanked by your customers.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 6 points 2 days ago

Lots of MBAs will carefully* study the ways businesses can learn from Target's mistake, and have easier ties to cut with window-dressing PR initiatives like diversity.

*cocaine

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The board did this. The CEO is there to take the fall for it.

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[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 86 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Who would have thought disrespecting your customers would drive them away?

[–] witten@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago

There’s nothing quite like the wrath of a pissed-off soccer mom—except for the wrath of a few million pissed-off soccer moms all working together to boycott your company.

[–] BlackVenom@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

He's on the board now and that's basically a promotion - no real change here. Fuck target.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 74 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Go woke go broke??? :'(

Lol spit in the face of the individuals and employees that made you great, then wonder why sales are down...

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[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Go woke go broke??? :'(

Yeah, the term is really idiotic. Out of the many right wing propaganda, that one never stuck, thankfully.

According to survey, the vast majority of Americans still believe in diversity. It is only the tiny miniscule of loud minority who keep harping as if "go woke go broke" is a popular sentiment, when in reality it's not.

But don't be complacent and think Americans would never turn around from believing in diversity. If all eligible voters of Americans turned up on the election, only 30% voted for Trump. A similar amount of minority of eligible voters elected Hitler and the Nazis. It was only with sustained propaganda once the Nazis became firmly in control of the government that the Germans became steeped in the cult of group think, and forgot any semblance of humanity. With Project 2025, indoctrinating Americans is part of a similar agenda.

Edit: wording

[–] iridebikes@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And yet, knowing these facts, many idealists on this site still bleat about sitting out at election time because both candidates are capitalists.

And if they're reading this: Yes, you're virtually useless idealists.

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[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 41 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 31 points 2 days ago (2 children)

i mean. not really. his new position is to have more power within the company. the incoming CEO is the current COO (aka, the member of the board who actually does anything)

this is the illusion of change. imagine you have a deck of cards. you add all the values cards to determine the overall structure of the deck. what happens when you shuffle it?

[–] witten@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's the illusion of change because they are scared shitless, rearranging deck chairs to try to appease their investors—who are very much interested in Target "fixing" their falling sales. Jokes on them, though, because customers have found alternative (read: better) places to buy their shit and aren't going back.

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But sales are down (based on financials). Not as much as I hoped, but they are down. They are down while companies like Walmart and Costco are surging in the triple digits.

At the end of the day I can at least be happy that some executives at target are QQ.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 days ago

i don't view sales going to walmart as a win. dollar general, walmart, and kroger are all festering wounds in our communities. however, i do think target losing business to walmart specifically speaks to something: people were going to target because they felt the value proposition was "less evil that wally world" but now it's "walmart with higher prices for no real reason".

i think the real question is if local businesses are getting more of our dollars thanks to these actions

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I'm in an area where target barely exists. Yesterday I was driving through a small town I've never been to. And there was a target. I thought "Wow a target! I have a gift card!".

Then I drove past it because I didn't want to deal with their bullshit.

[–] 5oap10116@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Use your gift card but no more. No need to give them free $

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[–] BlackVenom@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

They or the card company are making more money this way.

[–] Patches@ttrpg.network 4 points 2 days ago

Use it to buy a gift card at another store.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Last time I was in a Target they literally had nothing for me to buy. Just aisles of useless merch. Ended up getting a drink because I was thirsty and that was it.

No Xbox games, old PS5/Switch games, horrible book section, no movies to speak of, no decent olive oil... Just a bad scene.

It's like they aren't competing with Walmart or Kroger anymore and are just trying to be a super sized 7-11.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

What, you don’t want cheap Chinese plastic junk from the “Dollar Spot” that’s just going to end up in the garbage anyway?

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I can't tell if I aged out of the targeted men's clothing demographic or if they shifted targets to SoCal/Bohemian semi-casual but I've just felt so lost the last few years trying to find their plain tee shirts

[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 7 points 2 days ago

I must've aged out of literally any demo they are targeting.

I think some of the nostalgia/gaming/collectable stuff was a good addition to their stores but I also didn't buy any of it because I try not to accumulate baubles.

Also they seem to have tripled down on "overly specific demographic" marketing in clothing and whatnot. I'm not the target market for the plus-sized mauve crushed velvet track suit. I'll put it that way.

Their home goods, bronze and brushed silver crap, isn't my bag, nor is overpriced grocery.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I spend more but get better quality at Duluth Trading.

https://www.duluthtrading.com/

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The root of my struggle is I want V-necks. I'm not seeing any at Duluth. The Target selection always seems to be narrowed down to 6 V-necks (total) in colors that aren't me. Kohls has done better recently

[–] witten@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Original post was removed because I accidentally created an image post instead of one linking to the actual article. My bad.

[–] don@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’ll let it slide ( ≖_≖) …this time.

[–] witten@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

I appreciate your understanding.

[–] Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Cucked himself out to Trump all just to step down from his position

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Let that be a lesson to all MAGA collaborators. Cowards who bow down to MAGA Nazis will be delt with, and bear their shame forever.

[–] KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago

Should have looked closer at those customer demographics.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 17 points 2 days ago

This man is literally an example of failing upwards. It's almost comical that he ended DEI programs, hurt sales, now gets a promotion to get his incompetencey out of the CEO position.

[–] darkangelazuarl@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

Oh no.... Anyway

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

Execute all the CEOs

[–] porksnort@slrpnk.net 14 points 1 day ago

The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.

Get fucked, Target.

[–] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I hope people never step foot in there at all anymore. They should be an example at this point.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have to go one more time, to use a $10 gift card I won in a trivia contest. I'm trying to think of something that won't help them, like items from the clearance rack that have no profit.

[–] clunkplunk@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

They have already recived the money for a gift card. No need to shop the clearance rack. Buy the best value you can with that $10 gift card and walk away at peace!

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 12 points 1 day ago (5 children)
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[–] IHeartBadCode@fedia.io 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

amid an ongoing customer boycott over its scaling back of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives

I mean, I'm sure that played a role. Myself though, I'm just priced out. Target is price slightly above Walmart but with marginal quality improvement. At this point in the game, I'm either dirt cheap or serious investment and I just can't be in-between.

[–] witten@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Reminder that there's also a Walmart boycott due to their Trump-induced DEI rollbacks and their CEO attending Trump's inauguration!

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[–] Kenny2999@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

To paraphrase some guy I met on a carriage ride the other day: Hey you. You're finally a woke.

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[–] Aquaphobi@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

Damn must be tough for the underwear and socks store

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