Target to stock same-sex greeting cards

[Einzige]

Oreo opened the floodgates, and now Target is remembering what it means to be a business organization, too.

Same-sex marriages aren't recognized in most states, but Target stores nationwide are now selling greeting cards to celebrate them.

Placed on card racks under the headings of "For two special men" and "For two special women," the cards are adorned with phrases such as "Mr. & Mr." and "Two very special women, one very special love."

The cards hit shelves in mid-June, a month after the retailer began selling T-shirts with gay pride themes, and two years after Target drew a backlash for a $150,000 donation it made to a group backing Tom Emmer, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who opposed gay marriage.

Target offers a range of greeting cards that appeal to a variety of audiences, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, spokeswoman Molly Snyder said.

"Target is focused on diversity and inclusivity," she said.

The cards are made by Carlton Cards, a unit of American Greetings, whose spokeswoman Patrice Sadd said the company and Target jointly decided to offer "wedding cards relevant for everyone."

More businesses are courting the gay community, even at the risk of alienating some customers. Other companies, including Minnesota-based food giant General Mills, have publicly backed same-sex marriage -- a step Target hasn't taken.

Hallmark has been offering cards for same-sex couples to retailers since 2008, though Target doesn't carry that brand.

In November, Minnesotans will take to the polls to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Minnesotans for Marriage, a group opposing same-sex marriage, denounced Target for its gay pride support. When asked about the greeting cards, spokesman Chuck Darrell said in an e-mail that "people can love whoever they want, however they don't have a right to force same-sex marriage on all of society."

Historically, companies have worried that marketing openly to gay people would drive away other customers, said Witeck Communications CEO Bob Witeck, who studies the gay community.

"What Target and other marketers have figured out is it's not a zero-sum game," he said. "The rewards of marketing to gay households are greater than the perceived risks."

In 2010, Target wasn't the only company that donated to MN Forward, which supported Emmer. The company has said it contributed because of the group's tax and jobs platform. But Target ended up drawing more ire than Best Buy and other companies that supported the group.

That's because the donation contrasted with the gay-friendly reputation the company held for so long, said Akshay Rao, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota.

"All the actions Target has taken since the MN Forward kerfuffle have been friendly to the gay community," Rao said, "and this is one more in those long line of steps."

From a purely business standpoint, adding the cards is "a perfectly logical thing to do," Rao said.


Witeck's research indicates that the purchasing power of the country's LGBT population this year is $790 billion, or roughly $49,000 per adult.

 

[Your Star]

So cool!
...

 

[Slartibartfast]

Silly me. I had always thought greeting cards did not have sex organs.

 

[Gipper]

Kinda thought the same thing. I'm trying to remember the last time I bought a Valentine's Day card for a girl that implied that it was a guy sending it to her.

 

[joko104]

Actually, I think most Valentines Cards tend to strongly suggest gender. At least gender role identity - like "To my lovely wife" or 'husband", though in gay circles those often are not gender related, meaning then there already were cards suited for gays.

Sometimes it does seem to go too far in in-your-face declarations of gayness. Such as so many of the I'm-gay T-shirts now. I don't know of any heteros wearing T-shirts saying "I f... women" or women wearing a T-shirt saying "I like big dicks."

 

[Slartibartfast]

Actually, I think most Valentines Cards tend to strongly suggest gender. At least gender role identity - like "To my lovely wife" or 'husband", though in gay circles those often are not gender related, meaning then there already were cards suited for gays.

Sometimes it does seem to go too far in in-your-face declarations of gayness. Such as so many of the I'm-gay T-shirts now. I don't know of any heteros wearing T-shirts saying "I f... women" or women wearing a T-shirt saying "I like big dicks."

that one probably satisfies both things you haven't seen. They were pretty popular not too long ago.

 

[Tigger]

Okay. Well, that's one more place to scratch off the list of stores to go to. Such is life.

 

[RadicalModerate]

In many ways, capitalism is the ultimate expression of tolerance. Everyone's money is green, whether your black, white, brown or yellow, gay or straight, female, male or other.

Target can't afford to discriminate; really, no business can. The more inclusive and accepting of all ways of life, the more people they can sell products to and increase their bottom line.

 

[Tigger]

In many ways, capitalism is the ultimate expression of tolerance. Everyone's money is green, whether your black, white, brown or yellow, gay or straight, female, male or other.

That's fine. I'm just glad when companies go out of their way to announce these things so I know whose storefronts to avoid.

 

[Slartibartfast]

In many ways, capitalism is the ultimate expression of tolerance. Everyone's money is green, whether your black, white, brown or yellow, gay or straight, female, male or other.

Target can't afford to discriminate; really, no business can. The more inclusive and accepting of all ways of life, the more people they can sell products to and increase their bottom line.

Yes and no. If everyone or the prevailing culture is more live and let live, than sure.

I very much doubt a store would do well in the 30s not following jim crow type things in the south.

It all depends on the prevailing culture at the time.

 

[TheNextEra]

That's fine. I'm just glad when companies go out of their way to announce these things so I know whose storefronts to avoid.

I'm pretty sure if you list the main places you shop, there is something wrong with them that would cause you to suddenly stop shopping there.

 

[notquiteright]

Good for Target! I guess those who would shun a store for this would flee the country... ahhh would threaten to flee the country... ahhh would rant a bit...

I'm sure the boycott of Target will be as successful as the boycott of Oreos... :lol:

Pretty soon the Fanatic Few will be restricted to shopping at Rushonline and HeteroGAP....

Target has overhauled it's image around here, this just seems like a logical step. Pretty soon there will be same sex models posing in the Men's dept.

 

[clownboy]

NaBisCo can blunt any Oreo boycott and can effectively please everyone just by marketing one of it's other units as being on the other side of the issue. However, Target doesn't have the broad portfolio. Boycotts against their stores affect their main and only business unit. In a boycott Target loses from it's low-end customer base (the ones just above the Walmart shopper), an important demographic for them. We'll see how that goes this time. In the past they've tried this in other ways and with other social issues, and the boycotts had hurt them so much they pulled back from it.

They're doing it now so, if they have to pull back, it won't affect their Christmas sales.

 

[Your Star]

NaBisCo can blunt any Oreo boycott and can effectively please everyone just by marketing one of it's other units as being on the other side of the issue. However, Target doesn't have the broad portfolio. Boycotts against their stores affect their main and only business unit. In a boycott Target loses from it's low-end customer base (the ones just above the Walmart shopper), an important demographic for them. We'll see how that goes this time. In the past they've tried this in other ways and with other social issues, and the boycotts had hurt them so much they pulled back from it.

They're doing it now so, if they have to pull back, it won't affect their Christmas sales.

They've probably calculated that this will help their sales more than anything. Public opinion is on the side for LGBT rights, so you will see more and more companies doing things like this IMO.

 

[Tigger]

They've probably calculated that this will help their sales more than anything. Public opinion is on the side for LGBT rights, so you will see more and more companies doing things like this IMO.

Which just means more and more companies that I won't do business with. Should eventually make my shopping decisions very easy.

 

[clownboy]

They've probably calculated that this will help their sales more than anything. Public opinion is on the side for LGBT rights, so you will see more and more companies doing things like this IMO.

Nah, they'll do what they have done in the past, publically kill the offering in some regions and quietly leave it be in others. They get to have cake and eat it too. An old marketing ploy.

 

[rocket88]

Which just means more and more companies that I won't do business with. Should eventually make my shopping decisions very easy.

I don't think Stormfront has any retail establishments...

 

[Slartibartfast]

I don't think Stormfront has any retail establishments...

Tigger may be a lot of things, but I don't think racist is one of them.

 

[Arbo]

That anyone would throw a fit about this sort of thing 'happening' boggles the mind. I guess evolution always leaves some behind.

 

[molten_dragon]

If target wants to sell gay greeting cards, that's fine with me. Although it does seem like most greeting cards don't really imply the gender of the person giving them, and would work equally well for homosexuals.

 

[notquiteright]

A couple of sad cases claiming they are going to boycott Target doesn't work. A boycott, like a blockade, has to be EFFECTIVE to have any chance of changing the course of history or what a store puts on it's shelves.

I doubt much gets hidden from the homo-fearful or the gay hating minority in Target stores. It is one thing to not think gay folks deserve equal rights in the USofA, another to boycott stores/ food because they target a minor part of their product to the gay community.

The Tigger type minority in this country probably wouldn't shift the sales in any measurable way. Our nation has it's haters of damn near every stripe. If Tigger is a man of his word, there will be one less. I find comfort in that.

Our nation will eventually accept equal rights for all, what will be entertaining is those wanting to flee our Republic because of gay acceptance will find few nations of our standard of living or basic freedoms... severe Islamic or petty tyrant states seem to be the only choices.

 

[Gipper]

A couple of sad cases claiming they are going to boycott Target doesn't work. A boycott, like a blockade, has to be EFFECTIVE to have any chance of changing the course of history or what a store puts on it's shelves.

I can prove that statement wrong in four letters - Cuba.

 

[rocket88]

Tigger may be a lot of things, but I don't think racist is one of them.

True. But it's unlikely they'd stock same sex greeting cards.

 

[NitroHangover]

Ehhh, what's the big deal. Let's face it, greeting cards have always been pretty gay anyway

 

[Miguel17]

Hm. Now I have to decide whether to shop at Target because of their relatively enlightened views on gays, or continue to boycott them because of their anti-union vehemence.