IMPORTANT issue concerning Target Corporation and a call to action

I took the time to post this in the General Discussion forum, but I felt that it had a place here as well.

The following letter, which I have just sent off to both Target Corp. and Amazon.com, explains it all:

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I wanted to make you aware of an issue within one of your Target stores that has impacted my willingness to do business with your company.

I shopped at the Foothill Ranch, CA Target location for copies of Al Franken's new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, and Joe Conason's Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth and found not a SINGLE copy of either book. What I found instead on the "bestseller" rack were the following: Ann Coulter's Treason, Colin Powell's My American Journey, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity's newest releases and various bits of mass-produced fluff such as Condi, a biography on Condoleezza Rice, and a book on the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The last I checked, not a single one of those titles qualifies as a "bestseller" on any list of which I am aware. However, Al Franken's book is currently the #2 seller on Target.com's Top Twenty and is the #1 seller on your business partner’s website, Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/new-for-you/top-sellers/-/books/all/ref=pd_ts_a_hot/002-8199894-6600046

"Big Lies" is also featured on Target's Top Twenty and is #16 on Amazon.com. Both currently far outsell any of the books that I DID find at this Target location – books that happen to be written one and all by either conservative media pundits or by/about members of the current conservative Presidential administration.

When I approached employees at this Target store about the apparent one-sidedness of their book selection, I was informed that books were pulled from the shelves if they didn't "sell well" and that this was the case with Franken and Conason's titles. When I pointed out that they seemed to have no problem stocking the Bestseller rack with NON-bestselling titles written by authors who happen to be of the conservative political viewpoint, one of the employees stated to me that he thought they needed to have "more diversity" in their book section. Yet no one offered me any explanation as to why they refused to carry the titles I was pursuing.

I would hate to think that Target does not value me as a customer based on my political views, yet through your actions you have done just that. Refusing to offer a well-balanced book selection that includes ALL political views - not simply those of conservative authors - is insulting to your consumers. I would be severely disappointed is this happens to be a trend with other Target stores and this action reflected an attempt to skew the book sales of progressive authors in certain parts of the country, such as "conservative" Orange County, CA, based on the owner's or store manager's political affiliation.

I certainly hope that this matter will be addressed within your company. I have always respected and enjoyed shopping at Target, but unfortunately this incident has made me feel less inclined to be a customer with you and I'm sure others like me will feel likewise.

I will also be bringing this matter to the attention of your partner, Amazon.com as well as other book consumers throughout the country. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
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Now the call to action! Please take the time to investigate your local Target stores and their book selections to see if they also refuse to sell books by progressive authors such as Franken and Conason. I am curious to know if this is a demographic trend - i.e. Target stores located in "conservative" communities offer nothing but conservative titles to their customers as these stores are less likely to receive complaints (or even encounter any consumers bright enough to notice the selective exclusion). Regardless of their motive, Target is negatively impacting the sales of non-conservative authors and needs to be called on the carpet for this action.

Thanks for your help!

Having worked for Target for nearly half a decade, I can tell you that they are anything but intentionally right-wing conservative. Yes, Target is a corporation, but they generally pride themselves on being a quite trendy and cutting-edge, progressive company -- the very antithesis of Wal-Mart.

That said, individual store content does reflect local demographics, culture, and buying patterns. If your hometown is known for being politically conservative, it's a fact that you will probably find more conservative (pro-Bush, pro-GOP) literature and items there. On the other hand, however, sales are truly the bottom line when it comes to figuring out how to restock the store. If an item simply isn't selling well, regardless of how much pre-sale demographics and marketing data the store has on it, the item will go on clearance, and it is far less likely that the store will restock it or similar items in the future.

Could it very well be that you just so happen to live in an area of California where people couln't care less about progressive literature?

That's about as contemptuous toward * as it gets.

they tore down a historcial site, and cut down a row of 100+ year old trees in our area, all to build a fucking parking lot.

They can burn in hell.