Vivek Ramaswamy says Target has spit in the face of conservatives

Target’s market cap has lost more than $8 billion in the past week as investors weigh the impact of conservative backlash on the retailer’s LGBT collection for Pride Month.

On May 17, before the controversy erupted, Target shares closed at $160.96, giving the retailer a market value of about $74.3 billion.

On Wednesday, the stock closed at $143.10, down 11.1 percent from a week earlier, for a market cap of $66.1 billion, down $8.2 billion from a week earlier. Shares fell another 2 percent in early trading Thursday, sitting near a 52-week low.

Meanwhile, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has lashed out at Target over the retailer’s LGBT collection, saying products such as trans-friendly swimwear “spit in the face” of conservative shoppers.

“Target just put a target on its back from its consumer base,” Ramaswamy, a longshot candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, said in an interview with Fox News digital on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has lashed out at Target over the retailer’s LGBT collection, saying the products “spit in the face” of conservative shoppers

“Just ask Budweiser how that worked out for them,” he added, referring to a similar controversy over Bud Light’s marketing partnership with a transgender influencer in April.

This week Target removed certain Pride Collection products from its stores after it faced backlash from customers, saying it was acting to protect employee safety.

“If a company makes a conscious business decision to alienate a significant portion of its customer base, then it is perfectly fair for its customers to respond accordingly,” said Ramaswamy.

“That’s not a boycott, that’s just a response to a company choosing to spit in their faces,” he continued. “I have no doubt that many companies find waking up a good short-term trick.”

Target did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com Thursday morning.

Target says it’s been offering an LGBT collection for Pride Month, which falls in June, for more than a decade.

This year it includes more than 2,000 products, including clothing, books, music and home furnishings. But one item that sparked particularly conservative ire was “pleat-friendly” women’s swimwear, designed to accommodate biologically male genitals.

One item that sparked particularly conservative ire was women’s “pleat-friendly” swimwear designed to accommodate biologically male genitals

Target CEO Brian Cornell can be seen above. This week, Target removed certain Pride Collection products from its stores after facing backlash from customers

Other items in the collection include “gender fluid” mugs, “queer all year” calendars, and books for ages 2-8 titled “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3,” and “I’m not a girl .’

“Since the introduction of this year’s collection, we have faced threats that affect our team members’ sense of safety and well-being at work,” Target said in a statement Wednesday following the backlash.

“Given these volatile conditions, we are adjusting our plans, including removing items that were central to the most significant confrontation behavior,” the Minneapolis-based retailer said.

The products that Target is withdrawing will be removed from all of its U.S. stores and website, a spokesperson said.

While several Pride Collection products are being reviewed, the only ones now being removed are the LGBTQ brand Abprallen, which has come under scrutiny for its association with British designer Erik Carnell.

Carnell has faced social media backlash for designing merchandise depicting pentagrams, horned skulls, and other satanic-themed products.

Target has moved Pride Month displays to the back of stores in certain locations across the South, in response to online complaints and in-store confrontations that it says threatened employees.

But now Target is facing a second backlash from pro-LGBT customers who are upset by the retailer’s response to conservative protests, saying the company should have balked at critics.

Civil rights groups accused Target of pandering to bigoted anti-LGBT customers who toppled displays and expressed outrage over bathing suits that are gendered.

“Target needs to put the products back on the shelves and make sure their Pride displays are visible on the floor and not pushed into the proverbial closet,” Human Rights Campaign chairman Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “That’s what the bullies want.”

Target has moved Pride Month displays to the back of stores in select Southern locations, in response to online complaints and in-store confrontations

The uproar over Target’s Pride Month marketing — and the backlash against critics — is just the latest example of how companies struggle to cater to diverse customer groups at a time of extreme cultural differences, particularly around transgender rights.

Bud Light is still dealing with the fallout from his attempt to expand his client base by sending transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a beer can with her face on it, which Mulvaney then showed in an Instagram post, sparking backlash.

Bud Light’s parent company is tripling its marketing spend in the US this summer to recover lost sales.

Target has long been seen as a pioneer among retailers in how it embraces LGBTQ+ rights and customers.

It was one of the first to showcase themed merchandise in honor of Pride Month, which takes place in June, and has been at the forefront of developing relationships with LGBTQ+ suppliers.

It has also faced setbacks in the past. In 2016, as a national debate erupted over transgender rights, the company stated that “inclusiveness is a core belief at Target” and said it supported transgender employees and customers in using the restroom or fitting room “that corresponds to their gender identity’.

But even after being threatened with boycotts by some customers, Target announced months later that more stores would make available a single-toilet bathroom with a door that could be locked.