Branding Oopsies

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  Posted by Web Diva May 26, 2023 - Filed in Opinion Editorial ~ Op-Ed - #Company Branding  #Branding  #brand fails  - 1,028 views
  

  I don't know about you all but I personally would rather not know about a companies political stance on a polarizing issue, or would rather not support a company that works too hard with an obvious way of branding for the purpose of shock value to obtain media attention.

  Case and point on the latest branding oopsie, would be the stunt that the US Target corporate pulled with their over the top marketing in apparel in support of Pride month for the month of June.  For the record this is not about people and who they are, I believe I made that clear in my recent blog about labeling people, what this is about is a corporation really understanding their marketing and advertising, their target market and the obvious results when you go over the top.

  If a store wants to support pride month, that's fine, however, in the case of Target, the symbolism of the devil and other symbols were used on infant clothing and a variety of other apparel that took what could have been a way to recognize pride month in a positive way but instead the result left people in a bit shock.

  Here's the thing, when a corporate entity takes on an issue or makes a statement, there will always be people that will approve of it or not.  There will also be people that will cheer them on, or will boycott the company for their marketing choice or public statements.  I'm relatively forgiving, as most companies seem lately to be taking a stand on everything, however, when it comes to family and faith, protecting those that can't protect themselves, such as children, the elderly and animals, I'm a bit bullish on my stand if a company crosses those lines.

  What were the people in corporate thinking as they were taking a look at the proposed apparel designs?  Did they believe the public was ready for apparel with satanic symbols in a mega store like Target?  I'm not too prudish to realize there's a place for everything, too. There are many specialty stores that some of this apparel might work best in, but in America, for most consumers, this apparel doesn't fit in a mega store chain like Target. The target market for this specialty apparel works best in a specialty store.

  Target lost nine billion dollars last week over this.  Was it worth it, Target?

  https://nypost.com/2023/05/25/target-loses-8b-in-week-since-boycott-calls-over-pride-collection/

  Dear Target, please get to know the real people that shop at your stores.  We are all just people, with feelings, expectations of our favorite bakery item to be in stock, we love most of your brand, support the promotion of pride month, but please promote it with some dignity and stop putting people in categories for the purpose of sales or media stunts.  We don't really see our friends the way you are branding them and we would like you to see them as just people with hearts and minds as the more you stop putting people in categories and labeling the better all of us will be on so many levels.