Target's Pride Merch Decision Called 'Huge Mistake'

Entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary responded to Target's Pride merchandising controversy after suffering a hit in market value and threats of boycotts. 

O'Leary said that although Target wants to sell to everybody, its marketing decision to roll out the Pride merchandising line was a "huge mistake."

"When Bud happened, I can't believe that boards didn't wake up to that decimation market cap… Budweiser was the American beer. It took decades to build that brand and they blew it up in 30 hours," O'Leary told guest host Rachel Campos-Duffy on "Jesse Watters Primetime."

Kevin O'Leary

Bud Light's sales plummeted since April after teaming up with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. The American beer giant continues to grapple with the backlash from its marketing decision.

Target and Anheuser-Busch lost around a combined $28 billion in market value as of Friday, FOX Business reported.

The "Shark Tank" star said companies like Bud Light and Target "cannot be partisan in any way" when selling consumer goods and services. 

"Let me give you an example," O'Leary said. "Do you ever hear a CEO that represents a company ever talking about abortion? Never. Because that is an issue that will never be resolved. It's a personal issue, it's a family issue, it's a religious issue. It's partisan forever. You don't touch it. Same thing with politics, same thing with gender identity. Everybody has a personal opinion about it. When you actually get involved in a fight like that, you lose 50% of your constituency." 

The Wall Street Journal reports Rose Montoya, a transgender content creator who has worked with marketers including Savage X Fenty, said fewer brands are reaching out for Pride partnerships this year. Montoya attributed that drop to fear sparked by the furor surrounding Bud Light and Target, in addition to other factors including greater saturation of the influencer market.

“For us, it’s important for our customers to not only see themselves in our products, but also know that we see and welcome them—many of whom aren’t represented or often overlooked by other brands across a wide range of industries,” said Emma Tully, chief brand officer at Savage X Fenty.

The fashion brand, which recently introduced a new Pride collection, uses its marketing to support the LGBT community, as well as related groups such as the Black Trans Femme Arts Collective, throughout the year, Tully said.

“All of this will hopefully blow over,” Montoya said. “The queer community has huge spending power. Brands can’t afford to not work with us forever.”

Companies at the same time can no longer row back to an era when they were neutral on social and political issues, said Adamson, the Metaforce co-founder. Doing so may run the risk of creating forgettable brands that don’t resonate with anyone, he said.