You would not believe the letter I just got in the mail from Target.
They’re planning on canceling my Target Credit Card. Why, you ask? Not because I haven’t paid my bill… it has a zero balance. Not because it’s about to expire. But because I haven’t used it in 10 months. The notice said that unless I start using it, they’ll cancel me.
Now, why might I not have used my Target Credit Card in almost a year?
I’m not a huge shopper, but when I do need to buy something, Target was my favorite store. They always had a nice selection of good quality items. When I needed gifts for friends or relatives, they had something perfect. When I wore civilian clothes, I preferred plain solid t-shirts, and Target carried them in every color, good quality, reasonably priced. The store was clean, orderly, and easy to navigate. The vibe was good… at least it used to be.
For years, Target positioned itself as a corporate champion of marginalized people. They made strong commitments in their hiring and employment practices, and they stocked merchandise that celebrated underrepresented groups. Their message was clear: Target wanted to be a partner people could trust.
But then came the first days of the current administration’s campaign against businesses that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Target fell like a cheap suit. They pulled products from their shelves. They backtracked on employment commitments. They betrayed the very people they had once promised to stand beside, all because the bottom line seemed more important.
And here’s the thing: it backfired. Their foot traffic declined. Their profits suffered. And most recently, their CEO was forced to resign under the weight of the backlash.
This is where faith has something to teach the marketplace. Loyalty isn’t built on threats. It isn’t built on fear. It’s built on trust and on keeping promises. As Christians, we understand loyalty not as blind allegiance to a brand or institution, but as covenant faithfulness. God’s loyalty is always bound up with justice: steadfast love for the poor, the stranger, the outcast.
We live in a time when companies make choices that affect the poorest first. Layoffs, cost-cutting, profit-maximizing; these aren’t just “business decisions,” they ripple through the lives of workers, families, and communities. Faithful Christians are called to examine these choices. Does this company honor the dignity of workers? Does it protect creation? Does it exploit the poor or stand with them?
Jesus teaches us that the measure of our faith is not found in how we treat the powerful, but in how we stand with “the least of these.” That is what it means to care for the vulnerable. To lend our loyalty to the cause of justice is to refuse to abandon the poor, the sick, the migrant, the elderly, or the outcast… no matter how unpopular it makes us.
When we talk about solidarity, it is not a vague ideal. It is a practice: buying from businesses that treat their workers fairly, supporting neighbors when systems fail them, and being willing to risk our own comfort for the sake of someone else’s survival.
Our loyalty cannot simply be purchased by convenience or comfort. Loyalty must be tested against the question: Does this choice bring life, or does it deepen suffering?
So when Target, or any corporation, asks for my loyalty while betraying the vulnerable, I can’t give it. Loyalty divorced from justice is nothing but complicity. The Gospel calls us to stand with the vulnerable, not abandon them when it gets hard.
So no, Target, the way to win me back isn’t by threatening to cancel my credit card. The way to win me back, and countless others, is to live out the gospel message you once embraced: to care for your workers, to stand with marginalized communities, to do the right thing even when it costs you. And it would seem that in this case, standing with the marginalized you promised to be a partner to would have been the more profitable route. I hope other companies take notice.
That’s how you build loyalty. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you build a future.
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