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A grassroots organization is encouraging U.S. residents not to spend any money Friday as an act of economic resistance to protest what the group’s founder sees as the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties on the lives of working Americans. The People’s Union USA calls the 24 hours of spending abstinence set to start at midnight an economic blackout, a term that has since been shared and debated on social media. The activist movement said it also plans to promote weeklong consumer boycotts of particular companies, including Walmart and Amazon. Other activists, faith-based leaders and consumers already are organizing boycotts to protest companies that have scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and to oppose President Donald Trump’s moves to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Some faith leaders are encouraging their congregations to refrain from shopping at Target, one of the companies backing off DEI efforts, during the 40 days of Lent that begin Wednesday. Here are some details about the various events and experts’ thoughts on whether having consumers keep their wallets closed is an effective tool for influencing the positions corporations take. Who’s behind the 24-hour Economic Blackout? The People’s Union USA, which takes credit for initiating the no-spend day, was founded by John Schwarz, a meditation teacher who lives near the Chicago area, according to his social media accounts. The organization’s website said it’s not tied to a political party but stands for all people. Requests for comment sent to the group’s email address this week did not receive a reply. The planned blackout is scheduled to run from 12 a.m. EST through 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday. The activist group advised customers to abstain from making any purchases, whether in store or online, but particularly not from big retailers or chains. It wants participants to avoid fast food and filling their car gas tanks, and says shoppers with emergencies or in need of essentials should support a local small business and try not to use a credit or debit card. People’s Union plans another broad-based economic blackout on March 28, but it’s also organizing boycotts targeting specific retailers Walmart and Amazon as well as global food giants Nestle and General Mills. For the boycott against Amazon, the organization is encouraging people to refrain from buying anything from Whole Foods, which the e-commerce company owns. What other boycotts are being planned? There are a number of boycotts being planned, particularly aimed at Target. The discounter, which has backed diversity and inclusion efforts aimed at uplifting Black and LGBTQ+ people in the past, announced in January it was rolling back its DEI initiatives. A labor advocacy group called We Are Somebody, led by Nina Turner, launched a boycott of Target on February 1 to coincide with Black History Month. Meanwhile, an Atlanta-area pastor, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, organized a website called targetfast.org to recruit Christians for a a 40-day Target boycott starting March 5, which marks Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Other faith leaders have endorsed the protest. The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization, announced in late January it would identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning their diversity, equity and inclusion pledges. The organization formed a commission to identify potential candidates. “Donald Trump can cut federal DEI programs to the bone, he can claw back federal money to expand diversity, but he cannot tell us what grocery store we shop at, Sharpton said in a statement posted on the National Action Network’s website. Will the events have any impact? Some retailers may feel a slight pinch from Friday’s broad blackout, which is taking place in a tough economic environment, experts said. Renewed inflation worries and Trump’s threat of tariffs on imported goods already have had an effect on consumer sentiment. The (market share) pie is just so big, Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, said. You cant afford to have your slices get smaller. Consumers are spending more money on food. And that means theres more pressure on general merchandise or discretionary products. Still, Cohen thinks the overall impact may be limited, with any meaningful sales declines more likely to surface in liberal-leaning coastal regions and big cities. Anna Tuchman, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said she thinks the economic blackout will likely make a dent in daily retail sales but won’t be sustainable. I think this is an opportunity for consumers to show that they have a voice on a single day,” she said. I think its unlikely that we would see long-run sustained decreases in economic activity supported by this boycott. Other boycotts have produced different results. Target saw a drop in sales in the spring and summer quarter of 2023 that the discounter attributed in part to customer backlash over a collection honoring LGBTQ+ communities for Pride Month. As a result, Target didnt carry Pride merchandise in all of its stores the following year. Tuchman studied the impact of a boycott against Goya Foods during the summer of 2020 after the company’s CEO praised Trump. But her study, based on sales from research firm Numerator, found the brand saw a sales increase driven by first-time Goya buyers who were disproportionately from heavily Republican areas. However, the revenue bump proved temporary; Goya had no detectable sales increase after three weeks, Tuchman said. It was a different story for Bud Light, which spent decades as Americas bestselling beer. Sales plummeted in 2023 after the brand sent a commemorative can to a transgender influencer. Bud Lights sales still havent fully recovered, according to alcohl consulting company Bump Williams. Tuchman thinks a reason is because there were plenty of other beers that the brands mostly conservative customer base could buy to replace Bud Light. Afya Evans, a political and image consultant in Atlanta, said she would make a point of shopping on Friday but will focus on small businesses and Black-owned brands. Evans is aware of other boycotts but she said she liked this one because she believes it could have some effect on sales. Its a broader thing, she said. We want to see what the impact is. Let everybody participate. And plan from there. Anne D’innocenzio and Haleluya Hadero, AP business writers AP Business Writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
Love Warby Parker glasses, but not the high price tags? This one’s for you. Target is partnering with Warby Parker to bring designer-quality, affordable eyewear to customers, opening five “shop-in-shops” in 2025, the retailers announced on Thursday. Warby Parker staff will run the shops within Target locations, which will offer glasses, sunglasses, contacts, eye exams, and vision screenings, consistent with the eyewear brand’s own stores. Prices will start at $95, including prescription lenses. The first five locations will open in the second half of 2025 at the following Target stores: Willowbrook, IL Bloomington, MN Brick, NJ Columbus, OH (Polaris) Exton, PA Warby Parker at Target will also debut online at Target.com with the opening of the first location. More Warby Parker shops are slated to open in 2026. “Warby Parker at Target reflects both brands’ commitment to style, affordability, quality and convenience,” Christina Hennington, executive vice president of Target said in a statement. “As we test and learn with this new partnershipbringing Warby Parker’s expertise into select storeswe’re enticing new consumers to discover more of Target.” The new partnership will complement, not replace the Minneapolis-based retailer’s growing Target Optical business, which offers a range of products and services at more than 500 of Target’s 2,000 stores nationwide. The Warby Parker shops are the latest addition to Target’s growing number of in-store partnerships, which already include Starbucks, Apple, and Ulta. The news comes after Target announced it was rolling back its DEI efforts, ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and investments. The move has angered activists, who are calling for customers to boycott the brand as part of both the Target Fast and “Feb. 28 Economic Blackout” movements.
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E-Commerce
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will increase its giving over the next two years in response to what it calls a crisis” prompted by the Trump administration‘s freeze on federal foreign aid and the now- suspended freeze on federal grants. “This is a major crisis for our sector and its a time when those of us who can do more should do more,” said John Palfrey, president of MacArthur Foundation, in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. Palfrey announced the increase in a blog post on the foundation’s website, saying, The cliff of funding from federal programs has sent budgets underwater in field after field, and people and communities in the United States and abroad will suffer. Palfrey said the foundation would increase giving from 5% of its endowment, which is the minimum required by the Internal Revenue Service, to at least 6% for the next two years. The foundation reported it had $8.7 billion in assets in 2023 and it pays out around $400 million annually. Palfrey said he expected to grant out around $150 million more over the next two years. In his first days in office, President Donald Trump suspended foreign aid and directed the Office of Management and Budget to temporarily suspend all federal grants and contracts. Trump said he wanted to review whether all the grants aligned with his policies. The moves have had profound impacts across many sectors. The U.S. is the largest funder of global humanitarian responses and spent $68 billion on foreign aid in 2023. In 2021, nonprofits reported receiving $267 billion in government grants, according to an analysis of the tax forms that nonprofits file by the Urban Institute. In comparison, foundations granted out $103 billion in 2023, according to research from GivingUSA. Palfrey called on other foundations to join them in the commitment to increase their giving. Philanthropy should act in a different way than we have in the past, which is historically, weve simply given out more money when the stock market has gone up and weve given out less money when the stock market has gone down, he said. Freedom Together Foundation, formerly called the JPB Foundation, also announced that it would double its grantmaking to 10% of its endowment in response to the Trump administration’s policies. Deepak Bhargava, the foundation’s president, wrote in a letter that the current moment reminds him of the AIDS crisis, when activists pushed the government to find a cure and changed the place of LGBTQ+ people in society. The movement made a way out of no way. That can happen again, as it has so many times throughout American history, Bhargava wrote. There is a dispiriting tide of fear right now, and Im disappointed by how few leaders and institutions are stepping up. But my own experience and our shared history teaches us a hopeful lesson: courage is contagious. The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation is best known for its genius fellowship, which recognizes extraordinary people who work across disciplines and awards them a $800,000 grant. The foundation also focuses on climate, criminal justice and journalism initiatives and has ongoing commitments to Chicago and Nigeria. Palfrey said foundations found ways to make more money available to their grantees during the COVID-19 pandemic and could do so again now. For example, the MacArthur Foundation was one of eight foundations that issued bonds, essentially borrowing against their endowments to be able to pay out more in the short term. I think we need to do something different in 2025, Palfrey said. But I think its the same rationale.” Elisha Smith Arrillaga, vice president of research at The Center for Effective Philanthropy, said nonprofits report feeling a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety because of the president’s executive orders. Really what nonprofits do is that they stand in the gap for all Americans,” she said. “So my hope is that organizations and individuals across this country doing this work in their communities will stand up for the nonprofits that they support, especially at a moment like this. Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. Thalia Beaty, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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