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Samantha Luu

Professor Granillo

English 103

May 13, 2019

Targeting a Minority

Much as “manners maketh man,” corporations conduct themselves through commercials. Getting

to know someone is much like getting to know a public space, as both can be judged by a

person's interactions with it, along with what actions that someone may perform or what events

may occur that can affect a person physically, mentally, or emotionally. Public spaces can

choose to make people comfortable, on edge, question their beliefs, or multiple at the same time.

Many public spaces, such as a store or supermarket, are manipulated by the businesses that run

them in order to evoke certain emotional responses in their audience. However, being able to

identify these changes that may be conducted around a specific place is difficult without viewing

them through the context of a literary lens. As a majority of consumers may identify as being

able bodied and heterosexual, many oversee the viewpoints of a public space from someone who

is disabled, [define by Tyson], someone who identifies with the LBGTQ community, or both. By

using disability theory and queer theory, the audience can understand what message Target is

promoting when displaying a specific demographic in their advertising and how it affects them

throughout society.

Target is a fairly large retail store in the United States, in fact, the eighth largest in the country.

Target sells a variety of items, including clothes for children and adults, toys, home furnishing

products, cooking products, and electronics. Target is often identified by its trademark symbol, a
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red target with two rings, and for its beloved mascot, a dog shown with the same red target

painted on one of its eyes. Upon first glance, a Target store may seem similar in layout to any

competing superstore -- their clothing is organized by age group and gender, similar to their toy

section, although the majority of their product line is sorted through relevance of home, kitchen,

and outdoor products and appliances, which are kept gender neutral and mostly, if not always,

cater to adults who will be using them. Outside of what their store sells, Target is often known

for promoting inclusivity. In 2017, over half of the general staff hired were female, along with

happily accommodating for non-able bodied staff members working in customer services. Many

of Target's ad campaigns have promoted same sex marriage as well as heterosexual marriage.

Others include a catalog advertising the Target children’s clothing line, which includes kids

around the ages of 5-7 years old, most notably shows not only a child of each ethnicity, but also

a child with down syndrome.

As many companies prioritize candidates that are white, attractive, and as “normal-looking” as

possible, there becomes a clear bias towards who many advertisers look for in the casting calls

for models to promote their new product. However, in trying to find what would appeal to the

largest group as possible, they reduce the amount of diversity, and therefore narrow their

audience. Without including those of a different race or not able-bodied, they ignore and

essentially outcast these groups - making them feel evermore like they are not “normal” or that

they are the “minority.” Target aims to change that fact by including those who may not

traditionally be considered by the public as “attractive” or “normal” by including a child with

down syndrome in their models for their children’s clothes. Their main goal is changing

society’s attitude around disability. As stated by Garland-Thompson, “A feminist disability

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theory introduces what Eve Sedgwick has called a "universalizing view" of disability that will

replace an often persisting "minoritizing view." (Garland-Thomson) This reduces the amount of

stares that one with down syndrome may have for just looking “different.” Target does this

through their advertising by normalizing the image of an individual that may have this condition,

not treating them as any less of a human being or showcasing them in the limelight for the sheer

fact of their diagnosis. Their message to the world is that this child is like any other in their

advertisements, and should be treated as such and included with them.

However, upon deeper inspection, this advertisement could also fall within a demeaning light of

those with disabilities. In no other place does it attempt to show the same amount of diversity as

the children's clothing line may in the superseding Target catalog.

Target also accomplishes this by promoting same sex marriages. In their ad campaigns

promoting wedding catalogs, they not only showcase male and female couples dressed in their

wedding attire and affectionately celebrating their big day, but also male and male couples, along

with female and female couples, who are celebrating similarly. This not only works to normalize

the LGBT community in media and society, but also more accurately reflect American society.

As said by Alexander, “Working queerness in the writing classroom should be an invitation to ​all

students -- gay ​and​ straight -- to think of the “constructedness” of their lives in a heteronormative

society.” (Alexander, 105) Openly promoting these images in their advertisements allows Target

to open the discussion for society to reflect and think about homosexual relationships and

whether they are truly “different” than the love experienced in a heterosexual relationship, and if

they should be excluded as they have been throughout history.

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Target’s inclusiveness in their advertising allows society to appreciate and acknowledge that

everyone is different, and there is nothing wrong with that. Promoting children with genetic

disorders and adults who may not relate to the majority of advertising of heterosexual

relationships not only allows them to make a bold statement about what could be a controversial

topics, but gain a following and loyalty from customers that identify with these communities.

This also paves the road for other companies to follow in their footsteps, starting a trend that will

ultimately lead to the continuation of representation of these demographics in mainstream media,

helping the cause.