A satan-loving designer behind Target’s Pride campaign has said discontinuing its products has exposed the problem of “rainbow capitalism.”
Erik Carnell, a British designer whose slogans include “Satan loves pronouns,” had his products pulled from Target after the retail giant faced a consumer boycott over its Pride Month collection.
The Pride Month collection featured children’s transgender swimsuits, books titled “bye bye binary,” and a handful of items created by the British designer.
Target has been selling LGBTQ-related goods associated with Pride month for years, but last week the big-box chain removed Carnell’s products, citing an increase in confrontations between customers and employees.
Erik Carnell is a transgender British designer who says Target and Bud Light exposed the dangers of ‘rainbow capitalism’ ahead of Pride month
Carnell’s and its designs – which are printed on pins, stickers and T-shirts – have been labeled “Satanic” – but were not sold in Target as part of Pride month.
Companies like Target that launch products and campaigns for Pride Month try to take advantage of LGBTQ people but fail to stand by them when challenges arise, Carnell said.
“It’s a very dangerous precedent to state that if people get excited enough about the products you’re selling, you can completely distance yourself from the LGBT community when and if it’s convenient,” Carnell said.
“If you take a stand and say you care about the LGBT community, you have to stick with it no matter what.”
Target’s decision to remove some Pride products came weeks after brewer Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney led to transphobic comments on social media and a boycott.
The collection consisted of children’s transgender swimsuits, books called ‘bye bye binary’ and a handful of items created by the British designer
Companies like Target that launch products and campaigns for Pride Month try to take advantage of LGBTQ people, but don’t continue to assist them when challenges arise, Carnell said
Target’s collection for Pride Month, celebrated each June, includes more than 2,000 products, including Carnell’s Abprallen brand.
His brand’s products are the only ones to date that have been removed both in-store and online, he said.
Carnell said he has received hate messages and death threats over the past week, adding that he has not contacted Target – who have not yet commented on the matter.
In a May 24 memo to Target employees, obtained by Business InsiderTarget CEO Brian Cornell said that “one of the hardest parts” of the campaign to land the merchandise was figuring out how it would affect the “well-being and psychological safety” of the LGBTQ community.
“We’re behind you now and will continue to do so — not just during Pride Month, but every day,” he said.
‘Satan-loving’ Carnell pulled its products from Target after the retail giant faced a consumer boycott over its Pride Month collection
The designer Carnell said that Etsy, an online marketplace where Abprallen has a store, contacted him to see how he was doing, and that Threadless, which prints his designs, offered his premium services for free.
Target unveiled its Pride Month collection in early May, just after the Bud Light Dylan Mulvaney controversy.
Erik – a transgender man – proudly shared photos of the collaboration on Instagram.
“These have already enraged the transphobes at me and I feel like a real celebrity for thinking that they believe this is all one big conspiracy and that I have the power to brainwash anyone if I’m just a guy drawing pictures! ‘ he said.
A closer look at his other work reveals more sinister material.
These include badges with slogans such as ‘Satan Respects Pronouns’, ‘Young, Queer and Willing’ and a lighter pin with the words ‘burn down the cis-tem’.
There are badges for sale on Abprallen’s site, including one with the slogan “young, bisexual and willing”
Other items for sale in the Abpralle Etsy shop are sinister. Stickers and badges that denigrate “cis feelings” – the feelings of non-trans people – and Fox News is one of them
A guillotine pin with the words ‘homophobic headrest’ and a pair of axes calling for the ‘struggle for trans rights’ are also for sale online
A description on Abprallen’s Etsy shop describes the designer’s interpretation of Satan
He also models the “Satan respects pronouns” T-shirt on an Instagram page while wearing BDSM style horns and no pants.
In a bio on the brand’s website, he says he has always been fascinated by the “frightening and mystical.”
“I juxtapose it with images of skulls and spooky things — an interest of mine since I was a kid. There is something magical about the unknown, the frightening and the mystical, which is why I show these themes so often in my art,” he says.
In a description on his Etsy store, he continues, “Satan loves you and respects who you are. You are important and valuable in this world and you deserve to treat yourself with love and respect.