Did Gaga Stop Target From Donating To Anti-Gay Campaigns?
Lady Gaga is considerably powerful, as pop artists go, but does she have the power to change the policy guidelines at a hugely influential national retailer?
According to a new article on Billboard.com, she might. Gaga says she elected to give Target the exclusive rights to sell an exclusive version of her new album born this way — but only after telling them they’d have to amp up their attention to the LGBT community.
If you’ll recall, the Minneapolis-based corporation made at $150,000 donation to MN Forward, a jobs-focused political organization in Minnesota. MN Forward then donated a significant portion of that money to Tom Emmer, a Republican candidate for governor who had a track record of opposing gay rights initiatives. (Emmer lost to Democrat Mark Dayton, who’s been a little more supportive of gay rights.)
Still, there was public outcry, followed up by an apology from Target (and still more donating to anti-gay political campaigns), then a few edits to its political donation guidelines. And Gaga says she helped bring about those changes.
“That discussion was one of the most intense conversations I’ve ever had in a business meeting,” Gaga says. “Part of my deal with Target is that they have to start affiliating themselves with LGBT charity groups and begin to reform and make amends for the mistakes they’ve made in the past…our relationship is hinged upon their reform in the company to support the gay community and to redeem the mistakes they’ve made supporting those groups.”
Since the controversy (and those conversations) Target has earmarked about half a million dollars to support LGBT causes this year. The amount is generous (of course they could just be doing nothing at all), but it pales in comparison to the $3 million a week they spend on other community programs. So did selling Gaga’s album have any impact at all?
[Target's VP of communications Dustee Jenkins ] “says she ‘didn’t think’ Gaga’s feedback had resulted in direct policy change, but that she was one of many voices Target had considered in order to better understand issues concerning the LGBT community. For example, Jenkins cited a recent meeting in San Francisco between LGBT groups and Target executives, but declined to provide greater detail. ‘We very much appreciated the conversation and the dialogue with [Lady Gaga] and her team all along the way,’ Jenkins says. ‘They’ve been a wonderful partner in this and they certainly shared their feedback.’”
We guess it’s a good thing that someone who’s so concerned with gay rights has a seat at Target’s table, but we’re still not convinced that Gaga swayed the store to act any differently. When (or if) Target wants to support gay rights, or just gay people, in a meaningful way, it will.
Or it won’t.
Lady Gaga Talks Target Deal for ‘Born This Way’ [Billboard]
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