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Endorse This: Blue State, Red State — Blue Toys, Pink Toys?

Endorse This: Blue State, Red State — Blue Toys, Pink Toys?

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Fox News is now aghast at the latest development in American culture: the Target store chain’s decision to no longer separate children’s toys by gender.

Watch this news clip on a decision by a private corporation in the free market — or as the Fox hosts call it, “the tyranny of the minority.” But make sure to stay to the end, for a refreshing take from a rather interesting guest panelist.

Video viaOutnumbered/Fox News.

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Target Says It Will Remove Gender-Based Labeling In Toy Aisles

Target Says It Will Remove Gender-Based Labeling In Toy Aisles

By Kavita Kumar, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS)

MINNEAPOLIS — After a tweet of a sign in a Target store that distinguished between “building sets” and “girls’ building sets” created a social media firestorm earlier this summer, the Minneapolis-based retailer said Friday that it will use gender-neutral signage in toys aisles as well as in other areas such as kids’ bedding and in children’s books.

In addition, the company said it will remove the pink, blue, yellow and green paper on the back walls of its toy shelves that indicate a gender and replace it with wood paneling. Target said its teams are identifying other areas to phase out similar signage, but added that gender-based language still makes sense in some departments such as apparel where sizing and fit are different. The changes will be phased in over the next few months.

But the gender references for toys and other products will remain on Target.com, where gender is often used as a search term when people shop online, said Molly Snyder, a Target spokesman.

In a blog post on its corporate website, Target said that in the past, shoppers have said signage by brand, age or gender has helped them find gifts faster. But the company went on to say that shopping preferences change and it has heard loud and clear from customers that signage by gender in some departments is unnecessary.

“We never want guests or their families to feel frustrated or limited by the way things are presented,” the company said.

The news was greeted with delight by Abi Bechtel, the mother in Akron, Ohio, who tweeted the initial picture that sparked the debate back in June.

“That’s fantastic,” she said in a phone interview when she was, coincidentally, heading to Target to do back-to-school shopping for her three sons. “I think it’s great they are paying attention and re-evaluating how they are doing this kind of marketing.”

In June, Bechtel had been shopping with one of her sons who had birthday money to spend when she saw the sign in the aisle that called out “girls’ building sets” apart from just “building sets.”

She tweeted a picture of the signage and wrote “Don’t do this, @Target.” It was retweeted thousands of times.

Bechtel was surprised that her tweet got so much attention.

“I didn’t expect it to become the center of this entire discussion about gender and the way toys are marketed,” she said. “But Caitlyn Jenner’s pictures had just come out. And the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage came out soon after. So there was a whole lot of discussion about gender and gender roles anyway. The tweet just landed at the right time.”

Up until a few weeks ago, she had still seen the “girls’ building sets” sign in her local Target in Green, Ohio. But on Friday, when she got to the store, she happily reported that the sign was no longer there.

The “girls’ building sets” sign in Target stores was mostly a reference to a line of products called Lego Friends, which include items such as hair salons and flower stands.

Snyder said the “girls’ building sets” signs were recently taken down across the chain and that the changes to signs in the home and entertainment departments will happen in the next few weeks.

Photo: This is the tweet that changed Target’s policy. Via Abi Bechtel/Twitter 

First Target, Now Albertsons SuperValu Are Hacked

First Target, Now Albertsons SuperValu Are Hacked

New York (AFP) — The U.S. retail chain Albertsons, which has 1,060 department stores in the United States, and its former owner SuperValu say their computer systems have been raided by hackers seeking credit card data.

Both companies acknowledged the intrusion in statements released overnight Thursday.

They said it was not yet clear if credit card data had in fact been stolen.

The hackers attacked June 22 at the earliest and the intrusion ended July 17 at the latest.

Both said the intrusion has been brought under control, and that their customers can make credit and debit card purchases at the stores with no reason to worry.

The break-in is reminiscent of one suffered by retail chain Target, which revealed in December that 40 million bank accounts or credit cards had been compromised when its computer system was hacked from November 27 to December 15 of last year.

AFP Photo/Greg Wood

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Target Asks Customers Not To Bring Guns To Its Stores

Target Asks Customers Not To Bring Guns To Its Stores

By Kavita Kumar, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. on Wednesday took a stand against customers who bring firearms into its stores.

“This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create,” John Mulligan, the company’s acting CEO, said in a statement.

The matter became a surprising controversy for the Minneapolis-based retailer in recent months when activist gun owners in Texas and other states chose the company’s stores to demonstrate their belief in the right to openly bear arms.

Texas and other “open carry” states allow people to carry guns unless directed by owners of private property to put them away. Many employers, retailers and other establishments post signs in those states prohibiting people from bringing guns onto their premises.

While gun-rights activists chose Target as a venue to demonstrate their rights, other groups began to express concern about the presence of guns in its stores, particularly because they are frequented by families with small children. At Target’s annual meeting in Dallas, a small group of mothers staged a small demonstration asking Target executives to join other retailers in banning weapons from its stores.

In his statement, posted on the company’s blog, Mulligan said, “Our approach has always been to follow local laws, and of course, we will continue to do so. But starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target, even in communities where it is permitted by law.”

Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman, said the retailer will not post signs at its stores asking people not to bring guns inside. “It is not a ban,” she said. “There is no prohibition.”

She said the company decided to make this statement after hearing from people on all sides of this issue.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun-control advocacy group formed after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., pressured Target for the last month to prohibit customers from openly carrying guns and gathered nearly 400,000 signatures on a petition asking for the same. Its members had also launched a social media campaign about the issue and posted pictures online of shoppers with receipts from other retailers.

“Moms everywhere were horrified to see images of people carrying loaded assault rifles down the same aisles where we shop for diapers and toys,” Shannon Watts, the group’s founder, said in a statement. “Like Chipotle, Starbucks, Facebook, Jack in the Box, Sonic, and Chili’s, Target recognized that moms are a powerful customer base and political force, and you can respect the 2nd Amendment and the safety of customers at the same time.”

Some gun rights activists emphasized though that Target is not banning guns.

The “policy will have no practical impact,” Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, a Minnesota group, said in a statement. It also said the mom’s group gets financial backing from Michael Bloomberg, the media billionaire and former New York mayor who campaigned for stiffer gun laws and started a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

“Target is trying to have it both ways,” Joseph Olson, the group’s founder, said in the statement. “They want to stop Bloomberg’s social media attacks, but they don’t want to alienate millions of Target customers who legally carry, so they call it a ‘request,’ one that carries no enforcement.”

It added that gun owners and permit holders will have to decide whether to keep shopping at Target.

AFP Photo / Justin Sullivan

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