Photo by Shabaz Usmani on Unsplash
Target Under Fire for Valentine’s Day Decorations Despite 2024 Not Being Over
January 1, 2025
Target is under fire for selling Valentine’s Day products just a few days after Christmas. The retailer began promoting a “cute Valentine’s Day mug” barely 24 hours after the holiday season concluded. Let’s take a look at what we know about this backlash.
Target Valentine’s Day Mug
Despite pushback from consumers, whose inflation-weariness has left them barely able to afford luxuries, Target made headlines for its “super cute” Valentine’s Day mug. Parade reports that customers eagerly anticipate new Valentine’s Day goods arriving at stores. Earlier this month, Target Cheer, an Instagram shopping account, gave a sneak peek at a new product that immediately drew fans’ attention.
On Dec. 21, an Instagram video post showed the shopper holding a red mug. The mug’s body was slightly dented around the handle, which allowed the half-heart handle to fully enlarge when viewed from the side.
Many of the mugs were piled on a shelf in the unnamed Target store where the video premiere was shot, even though the Instagram account stated that the new Christmas item was unavailable for online ordering. The mugs were marked as $5 each and were displayed above a price tag for the Threshold brand.
Although it was unclear at first how soon the mugs would be readily accessible, people who commented on the article seemed excited about the opportunity to evaluate the “Cute!” things for themselves.
Center of a Lawsuit Brought by Blake Lively Against Her Co-Star
The mugs’ controversy aside, the retail giant is also caught in the crossfire of actress Blake Lively’s suit against her “It Ends With Us” co-star, Justin Baldoni.
According to Fortune, the actress alleges that Baldoni and his team started a carefully thought-out smear effort to harm her reputation following the release of their film, “It Ends With Us.” According to Lively’s lawyers, the smear campaign has significantly damaged her business ventures with Target, which were considered among the best the store had to offer before the film’s release.
According to her attorneys, the smear campaign greatly affected Lively’s personal and professional pursuits. Sales of her new hair care line alone may have dropped by about 90%. According to Lively’s lawyers, the “sudden and unexpected negative media campaign” decreased Blake Brown product sales at retail by 56% to 78%.
“This dramatic drop was completely at odds with the high satisfaction scores that Blake Brown products received in the significant consumer testing performed before launch or its initial success after launch,” noted the experts at Puck, who spoke with “internal sources” at Target about the sales drops.
Her lawyers noted that the Blake Brown line was “Target’s largest hair care launch on record” before the “social manipulation campaign” started, garnering $16 million in media impact value in a week.
Despite Lively’s problems, the retail behemoth has partnered with other brands on several occasions. It recently declared True Classic a partner.
True Classic has done quite well by all standards. According to WWD, the company has opened nine of its own stores, made $500 million in revenue, and established itself as a major wholesale player despite only starting in 2019.
True Classic, first known for its fitted T-shirts but now selling a variety of menswear, will sell its primary product at 460 Target stores around the country, according to a press release.
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