EPS 24 - Pride, Boycotts, and the Business of Backlash: Target, Bud Light & Beyond

Target has been under fire for its Pride displays — from merchandise being ripped down to employees harassed and media voices calling for boycotts. In this episode, unpacks the controversy around Target, Bud Light, and corporate Pride backlash.

You’ll hear:

• Why stock price swings don’t mean a company is collapsing.
• The difference between unrealized gains/losses and actual losses.
• Why most analysts still recommend Target as a solid long-term buy.
• How Pride support in corporate America has evolved since the 1990s.

A no-nonsense look at the myths linking LGBTQ+ people with “grooming” — and the hypocrisy behind it.

Jerry’s takeaway? Boycotts make headlines, but Target — and Pride — aren’t going anywhere.

💬 Have a question or comment? Contact Jerry here

Transcript

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Hey, hello,

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hello, hello. And this is Jerry. And welcome to the Pink Money Podcast, where we talk about all things related to money from a gay perspective. And, you know, today, the topic that I want to discuss is Target. And I'm talking about the store. And the reason why Target is in my thoughts is predominantly because we've all heard about, you know, Target suffering, you know, these pride displays that have been violated by people coming in there, ripping them down. Employees, Target employees being assaulted, screamed at, yelled at. And you got even people like Candace Owens out there saying Target, you know, is a filth monger and, you know, is a perverted company that should go out of business. So, you know, they got a lot of going against them in terms of their pride for, in particular, this year. But, you know, Target in and of itself is a great big, large company. I mean, what do they have? Over a thousand stores. They made over, what, in 20... I believe I was taking a look at, they made over, you know,$93 billion. And so Target in and of itself is not likely to go under because of this. You know, they make a big deal about, you know, their stock losing a significant amount of its valuation. And I mean, that is important. And that does have real life ramifications, meaning, you know, people may choose to sell their stock if their price goes down. But on the other hand, When your stock goes up and down, then you have an unrealized gain and an unrealized loss, meaning any gain you receive, if you buy your stock at$10, it goes up to$15, that$5 gain is just on paper. You don't have that$5 in your pocket until you actually sell that stock. then you can pocket that$5 difference. Similarly, if the stock you buy it at 10, it goes down to$5. That is an unrealized loss. And again, you don't really suffer that loss until you sell your stocks. And then of course, all you get is five bucks and you can carry forward that loss if you're unable to write it all off in one year. So that aside, I'm not too worried about Target in and of itself because taking a look at Target and whether it's a company that most analysts suggest you either buy or hold or sell, from everything I've been able to read and see, and I'm talking about here in the first week of June, that all the analysts are pointing to it being a buy. So that means that if their stock has declined in price, then most astute investors will buy that stock because it is a good opportunity. So when a stock goes on quote-unquote sale because its valuation goes down, then if you believe in the store, the fundamentals are good, the management is good, the way they run the company is solid, there probably isn't any reason to bail on the company. You might want to wait it out and see what the long-term results are. But again, these mini boycotts or whatever you want to call this, it's probably a big ado about nothing. It's not like pride is going to go away. It's not like gay people are going to go away. And it's not like Target's going to go away. And people who shop at Target, where are they going to go? Walmart? Okay. Amazon? Okay. Where else? You know, I don't know where else you go. But all I'm saying is for a company that provides as much as Target does and people go and you know what happens when you go to Target. You go in with an empty cart and you buy two things and you come out with 20 things. Because that's how it is, right? We all love Target. We all love going to Target. And we all end up buying way too much crap at Target. That's just how it goes. So all I'm saying is it is disappointing that that many people are out there, you know, hating on Target right now, just like all this big ado, in my opinion, about nothing regarding Bud Light. It's the number one beer in the world. And you're telling me that because they put Dylan Mulvaney on a single can or even a six pack, whatever it is, a Bud Light, that that's the reason to give up your favorite beer. That's not happening. I mean, if Kid Rock decides never to drink Bud Light again, well, who gives a crap, right? Because what has he done lately? And I don't care how much of an influencer he may or may not be. He didn't make Bud Light. He's not going to break Bud Light. And so from that standpoint, he can hate all he wants and not drink it, and that's fine. And you go over to whatever beer is next in line. Because most of the beer companies, just like most companies in general... do support pride. There's over 6 million companies in the US, and I don't know how many of them actually support pride, but a significant number of companies have continued to come out in support of pride. I mean, I remember, shoot, Back in 1993, when I went to one of the first marches on Washington, I think the first one took place in 79. But anyway, in 93, I went to that one. And there was nothing like what it is today. Nothing. I mean, you couldn't go to a store and buy Pride merchandise. I don't even think you could hear the word gay on any kind of press release from any company that I can think of. If it was, it was very brief and it was pretty obscure because it certainly wasn't Target back then. It wasn't, you know, Bud back then. I think Coors maybe began to support the LGBTQ community back, I want to say somewhere in maybe the early 80s, mid 80s, somewhere around there. Maybe not even then. Maybe it was towards the late 80s, early 90s. Anyway, my point being that it wasn't like all of a sudden it just was there. It took a long time to build up. It's still not there. It's going to take even longer really to, I think, saturate it where it becomes almost just second nature. That's how I feel about it. Anyway, the point I'm really making here is... It's just disappointing that so many people are trying to make a big deal out of Target right now. And I'm talking about... Not just everyday people. I'm talking about the news. You know, when you hear on the news that they are shouting this from the rooftops and it's just a sensational story that they're trying to drum up to make their evening newscast and get more people to watch their news or to read it online or whatever. I mean, I'm not saying it's nothing, but all I'm saying is it's not that big a deal, okay? It's not. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal. Like I said, Target's not going to go out of business tomorrow. The CEO is not going to step down. I think he's been there since 2015 or something like that. And even if Bud fired their marketing team because of the Bud can, there's plenty of other places they could get picked up by. It's a non-event, really. It's just so stupid. And just all the rest of this hate on the gay community and the trans community right now, This will all pass, but hopefully the people that are supporting this and behind this, what comes around goes around, and they will get theirs eventually. We don't really have to do anything. It's just the universe will take care of itself and take care of them. That's really all I have to say about that. But if you are interested in buying Target, let's say it's stock in and of itself, then you could go into your brokerage account and you could buy as many shares of Target as you wish. Even if you aren't really a huge fan of Target, but maybe you're a supporter of Target because they took a stance and they are taking it on the chin, so to speak, in terms of their pride displays. Even if they moved it to the back of the store or threw away some of the merchandise whatever you know I think a swimsuit was one of the big deals that it had a bigger piece on it or something it's so stupid anyway and I don't know what the hell you know people are really thinking or trying to conjure up in their mind you know of course trying to make the association of gay people and groomers where it has nothing to do with anything and we all know who the biggest groomers are right straight people and the clergy right and And that's out there for everyone to see. What happened to the Boy Scouts, right? Sued big time because what happened? They were groomers. So it has nothing to do with gay people. Gay people aren't interested in children. They're not. They're interested in each other. Or otherwise, cubs, bears, otters wouldn't be such a big thing. And that's how it goes. So anyway, all I'm saying is, again, this is a big ado to me about nothing. If you want to buy Target, buy it. If you're not sure about it, you can go online and do your own research. And there's plenty, plenty, plenty of places that you can go on and take a look at Target. stock analysts and their recommendations like Zacks, you can go on to Morningstar, you can go on to Bloomberg, you can go on to Motley Fool and on and on and on. So there's plenty of places if you want to get unbiased recommendations on whether to buy, sell or hold any company, especially Target, since that's what we're talking about. And you can just see for yourself and don't take my word for it. You know, you don't even have to take their word for it. If you go on your local Target and you like what you see and you want to own some stock, go ahead and buy Target. And if it's on sale, hallelujah, because it's not going to stay on the sale forever. It's going to go back up because like I said, Target ain't going anywhere. So anyway, I think I've beat that for long enough. And I, all I'm, Hope everybody has a great Pride Month, and do your part. Go out, celebrate, and be seen. I think it's important. So you have a great day, and we will talk at you later.