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 "Humorous" Easter Cards Were Offensive, Target
Posted Mon April 13, 2009 12:00 pm, by Angela N. written to Target Corporation
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On Saturday, April 11, I was shopping at your West St. Paul, MN store on South Robert Street. I decided to look for an Easter card for a friend's parents who had invited me to their home for Easter dinner. The religious/spiritual cards were pretty much gone, which happens when you wait until the last minute. I went through many of the "humorous" cards and was pretty appalled by what I found, considering this is (1) Target and (2) the main aisle of greeting cards runs parallel to the checkout lanes, so it gets a lot of traffic.
What I found were cards making fun of Jesus, and one card even used the word "asshole" in very large letters. One, in the front row where everyone could see it, showed a picture of a man wearing cut-off shorts that were so short, the bottom half of his buttocks were on display. Really? Target needs to carry greeting cards with that degree of vulgarity or offensiveness?
I'm no prude (I swear like a sailor) and I'm not even Christian, but these cards were ridiculous. Many were of the kind you would see at Spender Gift's at any shopping mall.
As luck would have it, there was a woman stocking the card section (she was an employee of one of the card companies, not a Target employee), and I commented to her that many of the cards seemed extremely inappropriate for a general audience sort of store, and she commented that she had seen them and was rather mortified by them as well, but she has no control over it and must do her job. I sympathized with her.
The juxtaposition of cards making fun of Jesus and using profanity being right next to very religious cards with Bible verses about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a little, well, unsettling.
I expect more from Target.
I would like Target Corporation to consider having an agreement with its card suppliers, an agreement in which the card suppliers refrain from sending their more extreme cards to Target stores, and instead save them for the more adult-oriented stores, such as Spencer Gifts, etc.
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AG is only one of the vendors that have cards at Target Stores. Some
people do like these type of cards and will buy them...others like
yourself find them offensive.
So I guess if you do not want to see these type of cards then do not
go to the "humerous" card sections.
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I really wish people could lay off religions. In this continuing
effort to shock for cheap laughs, it's become something that crosses
lines constantly. I'd hate to think we've become a world where it is
offensive to offer a "Merry Christmas" in December, but be perfectly
cool to belittle Jesus in a greeting card. If this was done with any
other religious figure it would cause a huge ordeal, but because it's
popular to rag on Christians we should be fine with it? (Not that I'm
Christian but thats beside the point)
You think the Mormans would put up with it if it were Joseph Smith? Or
the Jews if it were Moses? The Muslems with Mohammad? Why do it to
the Christians exclusively?
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by not_in_this_life Posted Tue April 14, 2009 @ 11:09 PM
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It's not only Easter, I saw some Christmas ones that were pretty bad,
one had Santa sitting on a chimney with his pants down. You would
think American Greetings which stocks Target cards would have more
sense.
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by Jared C. Posted Tue April 14, 2009 @ 4:46 PM
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As a Target shopper, I want these so-called "offensive" cards to
remain as a purchasable item.
I am particularly interested in the one making fun of jesus. I'd love
to buy one of that one to stick up on my fridge!
TARGET - please keep these items in stock as I have ZERO interest in
religious cards and never buy ones like that.
So...feel free to consider my vote as a vote against the OP's vote. So
the two cancel out...
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by MA Cunningham Posted Tue April 14, 2009 @ 3:33 PM
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like an issue that needs to be taken up with American Greetings and/or
Hallmark (I believe Target uses both)
It's great that you let corporate know, but there may not be much they
can do since, as you pointed out, Target appears to have little
control over this. AG and Hallmark send their OWN people in to set
the cards by season as opposed to any Target employees handling the
planogram.
AG (which is also Carlton Cards)is actually a Cleveland-based co, so I
am shocked (since they are in the heart of conservative land) that
they would put out such distasteful products!
Below is their media relations:
Frank Cirillo, 216.252.4938
Meghan Olmstead, 216.252.4938
or email consumer.relations@amgreetings.com
Hallmark does not publish as much info, but rather wants you to go
through their website to submit suggestions. You can find that here:
http://corporate.hallmark.com/Contact-Hallmark
The best way to voice your unease with the tackiness of this is to go
to the source of the content!
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You should have contacted the store manager and told him or her.
My magazine reps know me well enough to not put up the slutty mags
like maxam etc. I have gotten too many complaints on them, and have
taken action.
The same applies to greeting cards, the store manager can pull them,
and the card company will get credit for them, so its no loss.
Good Day
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I think it's great that you took the time to write this letter - so
often this sort of stuff is just dismissed. They (corporate)need to
know what is out there because usually the card space is a leased
area, cared for by the card companies themselves. I had American
Greetings at JoAnns and every now and then we would get notified to
find and pull a card that just did not fit in to what was wanted.
It's easy to ignore stuff that doesn't directly relate to your own
situation - I, like you, am no prude and doubt I would have taken the
time to send this.
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by Donno Posted Mon April 13, 2009 @ 8:22 PM
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But I don't think it colors my response to what you report.
I agree that the cards you saw seem more appropriate for a store such
as Spencer Gifts (so those still exist? I remember being in them, oh,
decades ago).
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by Nate. Posted Mon April 13, 2009 @ 6:55 PM
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Each for his own I guess... Freedom of speech, freedom of the press.
But I bet the company will get the message when not many people bought
them, and it is a good sign that they are still around.
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by ♫Venice♫ Posted Mon April 13, 2009 @ 6:21 PM
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I'm very surprised by this. I didn't look at any Easter cards this
year, but I have never seen anything like that at Target. That's
probably why they were the only ones left. Did you notice which card
company made them?
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I'm not Christian either, but cards such as you describe are highly
inappropriate. I can't imagine anyone who celebrates the true spirit
and meaning of Easter would want to purchase one. I am not sure who
the card companies thing their "target" audience is.
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