Target Facing Its 'Bud Light Moment' As Customers Accuse Chain Of Child Grooming With Kids Pride Section

Target may be facing it's own Bud Light moment.

The retail giant is under fire after several videos have gone viral showing the chain displaying a Pride Kids' & Baby clothing line at several locations.

The display is seemingly set up ahead of June's Pride month, and includes anything and everything -- from Trans People Will Always Exist shirts, to Pride-themed sandals, onesies, journals and calendars.

A video shared by the Twitter account Gays Against Groomers went viral last week after showing the section inside of an unspecified Target location. It's since been viewed over 1 million times and led to several other customers taking to Twitter and TikTok with their own videos.

#BoycottTarget began to trend on Twitter Wednesday with several customers comparing it to the current Bud Light situation.

Is Target about to join Bud Light, and should it?

Let's be clear before diving in -- there is nothing wrong with a Pride section at Target, or anywhere for that matter. Stores are free to do what they want and Bud Light is free to put Dylan Mulvaney on a beer can.

Their company, their rules. Knock yourselves out.

The problem here is two-fold. The outrage in Target's case will surely stem from parents walking into their local store and seeing an agenda pushed on their kids. Don't know if you've heard, but mom's tend to love Target.

Some will -- and already have -- accused Target of "grooming" kids. There's a line that shouldn't be crossed, and for most sane people, that line is their children.

It's pretty simple.

In Bud Light's case, the outrage -- at least initially -- was about the beer chain essentially disrespecting women. Don't forget that. It was less about Dylan Mulvaney and the transgender movement, and more about the message the company was sending to women.

Remember, the ad was about how Dylan Mulvaney, while claiming to be a woman, was too stupid to understand March Madness and sports.

The average beer-drinker doesn't care about Dylan Mulvaney, but more the message behind the ad. The average Target shopper probably doesn't care if you're gay, straight or identify as an alien, but they do care if you're pushing an agenda on their kids.

Which brings us to the "Bud Light boycott."

The entire idea of boycotting -- or canceling -- something is silly. It's the exact opposite of what this country was initially built on, and the exact reason society has spiraled into the place we're currently in.

There's a difference between canceling something and rejecting it, and that line has gotten a bit blurred in recent weeks. People are sick and tired of having politics and agendas injected into their every day life, and the numbers show they've rejected Bud Light -- and all of Anheuser-Busch -- for about six straight weeks now.

It's easy to do, by the way, because there are a thousand different beers at every single bar across America. I hear Yuengling is pretty good.

And that's the same problem Target may now face as the scrutiny ramps up over these videos. Target doesn't have the retail market cornered just like Bud Light didn't have the beer market cornered, and people can (and will) easily walk down the street to Marshalls, or Walmart, or Kohl's.

Perhaps Target is a big enough entity to overcome any backlash. It may very well be.

Lord knows I've been dragged there many a times by my wife, who I'm pretty sure kept our local branch afloat during the dark days of COVID.

But, if we use the ongoing Bud Light mess as a real-time case study, it may be a long, hot summer for the retail giant.

Frankly, it won't matter to me. I'm more of a K-Mart guy myself.

I'm afraid that ship has sailed, though.

Written by
Zach grew up in Florida, lives in Florida, and will never leave Florida ... for obvious reasons. He's a reigning fantasy football league champion, knows everything there is to know about NASCAR, and once passed out (briefly!) during a lap around Daytona. He swears they were going 200 mph even though they clearly were not.