Target’s DEI cuts have Black entrepreneurs saying ‘clear the shelves’

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Chantel Powell remembers the day her 6-year-old son Kameron came home from summer camp smelling like a man and reeking of sweat. It was a sweltering summer day in July 2017, the kind where you really needed to put on some deodorant - but Chantel was having trouble finding a product that was safe enough for her child's sensitive skin and interesting enough for him to use. So, in her kitchen, she came up with a makeshift solution: mixing baking soda, cornstarch, coconut oil, and a few drops of citrus essential oil. She applied the homemade concoction under Kameron's arms and sent him back to camp.

The next day, he came running back home beaming with excitement: “Mom, I told all the kids about your special deodorant. They have to try it too.”

The woman developed a line of natural deodorants made for kids. She would take her product to the personal-care aisle in a Target store, imagining what a larger presence for her brand would look like. Having started out by selling at local markets and salons, her effort eventually caught the attention of a Target buyer who was looking at her website. In March 2022, Play Pits landed in 296 Target stores across the country, a milestone for a business of its kind owned by a Black woman.

My competition includes big companies like Unilever and Procter & Gamble," Powell said to The Washington Post. "Having my product in Target stores was a significant milestone.

The retailer, which was once a leader in programs to increase diversity on its shelves, has joined a growing list of corporate giants - including Meta, Walmart, and McDonald's - that are retreating from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments.

Actually, with Black consumers leading the charge. Yet Powell and other Black owners of brands featured in Target stores are urging customers to "clear the shelves" and keep buying their products at Target. A boycott, they caution, could put their way of making a living in jeopardy.

If our core customer base at Target stops supporting us," Powell said, "our businesses might not survive.

On Saturday, in a plea to her 4 million followers, she said, "Don't let them erase us," concerning the financial difficulties experienced by Black brands in retail. "Let's not give them what they want. Don't let them take us off the shelves."

On Instagram, buying from a brand's website might seem like helping, but it can secretly harm companies that work closely with retailers. The best way to support The Doux now is to clear their products from store shelves.

Through Target's diversity equity and inclusion programs, the retailer provided better shelf placement, discounted promotional opportunities, and faster payment terms – key benefits in an industry where businesses typically bear the cost of inventory beforeseeing any profit.

Big-box retailers are a dependable source of income for us," Powell said. "Online, I might make $2,000 one day and only $200 the next. However, with Target, I have a reliable flow of income coming in every time. It's also a great option for my customers to easily browse and purchase my products, which is especially helpful for mothers, who value convenience.

Shrinking or eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs would drastically impact her 15 employees, mostly mothers. "It's frustrating. Corporations supported Black businesses when it was popular, but now that it's easy to dismiss us, that's what they're doing," she said.

She knows the company's achievements well. Her brand was the first sunscreen brand owned by a Black woman to get space on Target shelves all year round in 2019, a milestone that helped her grow her team in Los Angeles; her company had 25 people at the time, and they were mostly Black women. She guided her customers to shop at Target instead of on her own website.

Although BGS is not involved in any of Target's diversity initiatives, Lundy believes that the Target announcement will still affect her business.

on its diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments, actually aren't feasible for most Black-owned businesses because of the massive amount of product required. "If you can't make it at Target, you can't make it at Costco."

For Black small business owners and Black women, 2024 was a challenging year, she said. "It feels like we're facing non-stop obstacles," Lundy stated. "But we have to stay focused and avoid acting impulsively."

Pernell Cezar, a co-founder of BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages, advises consumers to keep a broader perspective. “If you're going to support Black businesses, you need to be reliable in that commitment,” he stated. “Stopping any of our progress requires more than one significant effort. But it's difficult to make progress when we feel discouraged.”

Known for its sustainably sourced coffees and teas, is stocked in 1,500 Target stores. "Black entrepreneurs are cutting our teeth in ways we haven't experienced before," Cezar said. "This is another part of that journey. There's a huge importance in Black entrepreneurs being respected by the systems we partner with as well as by consumers. I don't want us to get lost amongst each other."

Since then, in 2021, her sales more than doubled - an apparent surge of support for Black-owned businesses following Target's decision. But the cost of keeping her online presence active has been quite high-priced. "It costs thousands of dollars, around five figures, to run a two-week ad on Target," she said. One of Target's programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion helped make that expense more manageable.

If the program's pulled, will my products still be sold online? Will my sales drop off now that the program's not available?" she wondered. "I was really hoping to get my products on store shelves.