The Red Bullseye Is Back at It
Just when conservatives were starting to believe Target might have gotten the message — that maybe, just maybe, the endless foot traffic declines and the departure of CEO Brian Cornell had knocked some sense into the Minneapolis-based retail giant — they pulled a classic corporate bait-and-switch.
This week, Target sent Alisa Dalton, its VP of community engagement and belonging, to open the Catalyst Convene conference, one of the most prominent inclusion and women's advancement conferences in the corporate world. And Dalton didn't show up with hat in hand. She showed up doubling down.
"We continue to show up and support organizations like Catalyst," Dalton told the audience. "For us, it's about unlocking potential, building leadership and creating growth and opportunity for all."
Translation: Target never really left the woke building. They just went quiet for a while to ride out the storm. And now that the loudest conservative boycotts have faded, they're tiptoeing back — hoping you weren't paying attention.
You should be paying attention.
A Quick Reminder of How We Got Here
In January 2025, just one day after President Trump signed executive orders targeting DEI programs across government and the private sector, Target rushed to distance itself from its diversity and inclusion initiatives. The company scrapped participation in external DEI benchmarking surveys, ended its supplier diversity program, and eliminated its publicly stated diversity goals — a complete reversal of more than 35 years of DEI work and 22 years of operating its Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
For conservatives, it looked like a win. Brands were finally feeling the pressure. The boycott movement — led in part by Atlanta's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, which organized a high-profile Black customer boycott in response to the DEI rollback — sent shockwaves through Target's sales numbers.
But here's the thing: Target lost customers on both sides of the aisle. The company's foot traffic declined for seven consecutive months after January 2025. Conservative shoppers weren't rushing back just because Target dropped its DEI page. Progressive shoppers, enraged by the capitulation to Trump, started driving to Costco instead. And Black customers, who felt burned by what many saw as Target using their community for marketing before abandoning them at the first sign of political pressure, were openly declaring the relationship might never be repaired.
The "We're Still Here" Moment
Fast forward to April 2026. Target's new CEO, Michael Fiddelke — who took over when Cornell stepped down in August 2025 — has been tasked with rebuilding trust and restoring sales. His public statements have been carefully neutral. But behind the scenes, Target is clearly choosing a direction.
Dalton's appearance at the Catalyst conference wasn't an accident. This was Target signaling — quietly, without a press release, without a social media campaign — that they haven't actually abandoned the DEI agenda. They just suppressed it long enough to let the political heat die down.
Dalton herself acknowledged the awkwardness: "This morning, I've heard both relief and a little surprise that we're here."
She then added the line that should infuriate every conservative shopper who thought Target had learned something: "We were not clear enough about who we are as a community, which led to a loss of trust with our guests, especially our Black customers."
Read that carefully. Target isn't blaming their identity politics agenda for the business failures. They're blaming their communication. In other words: the problem wasn't that they went woke — the problem was that they weren't clear enough about being woke. Their remedy isn't to change course; it's to get better at messaging.
The 71/100 Score Tells the Real Story
Here at BuyWokeFree, we track corporate woke behavior so you don't have to wonder. Target's woke score sits at 71 out of 100 — a rating we classify as Extremely Woke. That score reflects years of calculated activism: same-sex couples prominently featured in major ad campaigns, BLM solidarity statements from the C-suite, a full slate of HRC-aligned employee benefits, and a long track record of using their stores as cultural battlegrounds during Pride month.
A temporary PR pivot and some strategic silence don't change those underlying commitments. A 71 doesn't become a 30 because a retailer goes quiet for 14 months.
What Dalton's Catalyst appearance confirms is what many of us suspected: the DEI machine at Target was never actually dismantled. It went into hibernation. The VP of "community engagement and belonging" — a role that didn't disappear when Target claimed to scale back DEI — was still employed, still active, and apparently still showing up to pro-DEI conferences to represent the brand.
The Playbook Every Woke Corporation Uses
What Target is doing follows a now-familiar playbook:
- Step 1: Get caught overplaying the woke hand (see: Bud Light's Dylan Mulvaney disaster, Target's 2023 Pride collection controversy).
- Step 2: Issue a quiet rollback or PR-friendly pivot to appear more centrist.
- Step 3: Wait out the news cycle and the conservative boycott energy.
- Step 4: Quietly resume ideological operations once the spotlight moves elsewhere.
Bud Light tried this too. So did Disney. So did Nike. The pattern is consistent because the incentive structure is consistent — ESG investment frameworks, HRC Corporate Equality Index scores, and activist shareholder pressure all push these companies back toward the DEI agenda regardless of what consumers want.
The only thing that genuinely changes corporate behavior is sustained economic pressure — not a one-week boycott, but a permanent redirection of where you spend your money.
Where to Shop Instead
If Target's quiet DEI revival is enough for you to finally cut the cord, you have real options. Retailers that have avoided the HRC benchmarking game, declined to sign the CEO Action for Diversity pledge, and maintained a focus on product and price over social activism include brands you can find right here in the BuyWokeFree database.
Dollar Tree scores significantly lower on our woke scale for a mass-market retail experience. For home goods and décor, specialty retailers without Fortune 500 DEI obligations often give you the same product quality without the ideological baggage.
The point isn't just to punish Target. The point is to reward the companies that stay in their lane — that sell you what you came to buy without making you feel like your dollars are funding an ideological agenda you didn't sign up for.
The Bottom Line
Target scored a 71 on our woke scale before this week. They'll score a 71 after this week, too — because nothing has actually changed. The VP of belonging is still employed and still showing up to DEI conferences on Target's behalf. The company is still partnered with Catalyst. And their internal DEI infrastructure, whatever they've renamed it, is clearly still operational.
The only thing that changed in January 2025 was the press release. The ideology never left the building.
Shop accordingly.