Boycott Target Movement Cresting at 75,000-Plus on Facebook

The clamor sparked by Target's $150,000 donation to an organization supporting Tom Emmer, an anti-gay Minnesota gubernatorial candidate, is finally beginning to die down.

Facebook's "Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics" page, created in early August by the progressive political group MoveOn.org, now has more than 75,000 supporters. That's an impressive number, but the pace of growth has been slowing: 3,000 new supporters joined this past week, compared to approximately 9,000 the week before and 11,000 the week before that.

In addition to anti-Target activity in the social media realm, the retailer's donation brought protests at Target stores and at Target-sponsored events. In San Francisco, local politicians in the gay-friendly area have expressed concern about Target's plans to build new stores within the city. And a group of institutional shareholders that together hold $57.5 million Target stock have requested a review of the company's donation processes, asking Target's independent directors to consider both the criteria and the risks involved in making donations to politically active organizations.

In addition, MoveOn.org created a 30-second ad protesting corporate donations to political groups in general and Target's activities in particular. The U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision earlier this year removed many of the restrictions on corporate political donations, raising concerns about companies seeking to exert greater influence over the political process.

Target has been quiet about the issue since early this month, when chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel posted an apology on the company's website and promised a review of the company's decision-making process for public policy donations.

The controversy's arc recalls the August 2009 protests against Whole Foods. That company's CEO and co-founder John Mackey authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece assailing the then-pending health care legislation. A "Boycott Whole Foods" page on Facebook gathered more than 33,000 members in three weeks' time, and Mackey resigned his chairman title late in the year, though he is still the company's CEO.

The Boycott Target movement's ability to attract more than twice as many members as the anti-Whole Foods contingent highlights the growth of Facebook since 2009 (the site recently passed the 500 million-member mark) as well as the growing power of social media to both create and accelerate public protests.

For related content see: 'Boycott Target' Total Climbs Over 72,000 on Facebook
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