Target Corporation The “Urine Sandal”' Abstract “Oring” means “urine” in Spanish. But it also means “peace” in Russian—presumably the only meaning the Target Corporation had considered when it used the word to name its new ladys sandal in February of 2013. It didn’t take Latinx news outlets long to protest the orina name, resulting in great embarrassment for the second-largest retailer in the United States. What should be Target’s response, and how can the retail giant recover respect from the Latinx community? ‘What steps can Target take to assure this does not happen again? Introduction Jessica Deede sat at her desk, staring blankly at the papers in front of her. Her phone s2"3 unremittingly, as reporters pestered her for Target’s official comment on the events of the last three weeks. Within this short time span, Target had managed to mistakenly name two products in an offensive manner. A plus-sized dress was named “Manatee Gray,” only to be followed by a sandal the next week named “Orina,” which translated to “urine” in Spanish. It fell to Jes? Deede—the spokesperson for Target—to determine how best to communicate the issues Wit® consumers and the media. unicate the issue Background The Beginnings After a successful career in banking and real estate, G Minneapolis to explore business opportunities, In 1902, Gey on Moved from New York? 2, Dayton created the Dayton Dry Go 180Culture and Context in Communication Company, which would grow to be one of the largest retailers in the world (Target Brands, nda), i 1960, The Dayton Company had grown into the leadin, (Target Brands, n.d.a). After brainstorming ways to reach larger audiences of shoppers, a discount retailing operation was launched. Industry experts considered this mass-market errrosch risky; it didn’t seem wise for the company to shift focus from traditional ARERR ROD retailing. Despite the risks, company leadership recognized an opportunity to create a new type of mass-market discount retailer that provided high-quality products to value-ori hc The management aimed to create “a store you can be Proud to shop in, a store you can have confidence in, a store that is fun to shop and exciting to visit” (Target Brands, n.d.a); thus the discount retailer was named Target. In 1962, St. Louis Park, Crystal, and Detect hosted the grand openings of the Target flagship model (Target Brands, n.d.a). By 1975, Target had grown to be the greatest revenue generator of th (Target Brands, n.d.a). Over the next 15 years, Target aggressively exp: the Midwest to 47 states. To better reflect their core operations an Company elected to change its name to The Target Corporation in 200 On its SOth Anniversary in 2012, Target reported sales of nearly $70 billion (Target Corporation, TGT: New York, 2012), solidifying its position as the second-largest discount retailer in the United States. From its humble beginnings, Target has grown into a premier vendor of trendy, quality, and reasonably priced goods. 1g department store in the Midwest luth, Minnesota, Dayton conglomerate anded its presence from d strategy, The Dayton 0 (Target Brands, n.d.a). Organizational Structure In addition to its main retail subsidiary, the Target Corporation is broken down into several subsidiaries (Target Corporation, TGT: New York, 2012): © Financial and Retail Services—Issues and oversees Target credit cards, as well as gift-card operations. Target Sourcing Services—Offers logistics service that globally sources and locates merchandise around the world in order to create a fluid and dynamic supply chain. Target Commercial Interiors—Designs services and furniture for professional offices. Target Brands—Oversees and operates Target's private labels and products. Target.com—Operates a variety of online e-commerce initiatives, including the flagship target.com. Products and Image Target has achieved success by creating significant competitive advantages in product differentiation. Over the years, management has successfully achieved the goal of providing “everyday essentials and fashionable, differentiated merchandise at discounted prices” (Target Corporation, TGT: New York, 2012). This objective has created a clear and sustainable alternative to Wal-Mart's (Target’s primary competitor] price leadership in the discount retailing industry. Featuring exclusive products from a number of stylish boutiques, Target augmented its discounter reputation with a trendy one, Target owns a number of private labels, which it operates as a part of its core business (Phillips, 2012). Also, Target has engaged in a number of high-profile design partnerships across merchandise lines, ranging from apparel to kitchenware. Target worked with designers Mossimo and Isaac Mizrahi in apparel to create new lines that complement its own labels (Barwise and Meehan, 2004). Each of the | Fran Oa and partnership, has a specific product-positioning that appeals to Target’s overall broa customer base, 181Concepts of Intercultural Communication ‘Target's design partnerships have enabled them to adopt a theme: “cheap for chic” Consumers have accepted and responded favorably to the retailer's ability to provide stylishly designed products at affordable prices. Consumer Profiles Traditional Target Markets Although Target has developed a competitive advantage through its “choice for cheap” strategy, they've never been able to compete with major rival Wal-Mart from a price perspective. Thus, their target market has always been a bit different. They strategically aim to cater to a different consumer base. The median age of a shopper in 2012 was 40, with a median household income of approximately $64,000. Approximately 43 percent had children at home and about 57 percent had completed college (Target Brands, n.d.b). These figures speak to Target's target: while they function as a discount retailer, they aim to target middle-class consumers who prefer trendy apparel and goods at reasonable prices. Changing U.S. Consumer Demographics With the aging of the Baby Boomer population, the average age in the United States is increasing. However, the Hispanic and Latinx populations remain relatively young; this demographic group is poised to experience the largest growth of any group by 2050 (Llopis, 2013). In fact, Hispanic/Latinx populations accounted for nearly half of the U.S. population increase between 2000 and 2011 (Llopis, 2013). And, by 2019, minority children will be in the majority (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). With this growth in population, the Hispanic/Latinx demographic is expected to be a primary driver of workforce supply-and-demand. Businesses will need to adjust their advertising and product offerings to cater to the preferences of this new target audience. This will require a significant amount of shifting, as Hispanic/Latinx consumption preferences differ from that of traditional Caucasian target audiences. Hispanic and Latinx Consumption Patterns The median age of the Hispanic and Latinx market segment is 28 years old, with a median household income of $65,233 (DeNavas-Walt and Proctor, 2015). Despite the similarity of these numbers to those of Target’s traditional customers, consumption patterns still differ widely. For example, Hispanics/Latinx spend 68 percent more time viewing videos on the Internet, and 20 percent more time watching videos on mobile devices than non-Hispanics/Latinx (The Nielsen Company, 2012). The marketing and advertising implications are obvious; businesses will need to expand to online and mobile video platforms in order to reach this target audience. How will this impact the product portfolio these companies invest in, and what kinds of marketing and advertising strategies will they have to adapt to? _Also, Hispanics/Latinx demonstrate distinct product consumption patterns and have differing behavioral purchasing habits than the overall population, This demographic makes fewer shopping trips per household and spends more money per trip (The Nielsen Company, 2012); essentially, Hispanics/Latinx are bulk buyers. Given the collectivist and familismo nature of Hispanic/Latinx families, this behavior makes sense, Rather than having individuals buy what they alone desire and need, families will often go out together and engage in bulk shopping. This provides opportunities, but also downsides for businesses. While more spending on shopping trips implies larger revenue streams, infrequent trips imply that a loss of loyalty could 182— Culture and Context in Communication be deadly. Businesses t deadly. Bus will need to differentiate i i HispanicsLatinx engaged agen erentits themselves and advertise effectively to keep A Failure of Intercultural Communication The Urine Sandal In April of 2013, Target made a branding mistake that offended the Hispanic and Latinx populations. In an apparently harmless act, Target chose to name a sandal “orina.” Orina” is a word that means “peace” or “peaceful” in Russian, which is the image that Target was attempting to convey to its customers. However, the meaning in Spanish is quite different; the direct translation of “orina” means “urine” (Sheets, 2013). Naturally, the brand name offended many Spanish speakers. But more than the offensive name, consumers seemed to be annoyed by Target's lack of oversight and review in brand naming. A popular consumer blog titled “Consumerist” wrote the following: It's not so much that urine is offensive—hey, we all gotta pee—but it does display an apparent lack of attention to detail on the part of a national retailer. Does no one speak Spanish at Target HQ or have access to this thing we call Google? (Quirk, 2013) Other blogs and online sites followed in this example, and Target caught on to the news quickly. Within a day, the “orina” branded products had been removed from Target.com. Unfortunately, the media storm didn’t end with the removal of the products and the blog postss the following day, major news outlets began to report on Target's mishap. When Jessica Deede, a spokesperson for Target, was asked to comment by The Huffington Post, she responded by noting that in “realizing this name could be misinterpreted, we [Target] are taking steps to remove the name from the sandal” (The Huffington Post, 2013). While this may have been enough to calm the storm under normal circumstances, consumers and bloggers soon realized that this name calamity was not the only instance of Target's poor branding. Dresses for the Manatees Just a week earlier, Target had apologized for electing to label a plus-sized women’s dress as “Manatee Gray” (Rupar, 2013). (A manatee is a large sea cow that can weigh up to 1,300 pounds.) Although Target didn’t mean to be crass, this act was still seen as one of insensitivity. In fact, Target had named the dress as such due to the color scheme; in the past, Target had branded petite clothing, towels, and rain boots as manatee gray (Weber, 201 ‘As was evident in the “orina” situation, Target had unknowingly communicated the wrong message to consumers. Through the abundant negative blog posts and unfavorable media coverage, it was clear that consumers were beginning to feel that Target was not putting much thought or effort into the formulation of communication with consumers. Summary Clearly, Target suffered by virtue of its own mistakes, and its reputation took a hit, Branding is ee eae and profitability of discount retailers, and such errors come with tremendous 3s a BS icit intentions were good, Target’s failure in planning and consideration seemed costs, Although ure in communication. to lead to a fa 183ral Communication Given the colleeivisy nature: and! bulle-buying, cofsulnes behavior of Hispanics/Latinx customers, significant action needs to be taken to remedy this situation quickly and effectively. ‘a failure to do so may lead to a decline in revenues and failure to capitalize on the fastest- ing demographic in the country. eee @ Trost ensure that branding mishaps do not happen again? How can they begin to heal their reputation and move away from being “sloppy” branders? What steps need to be taken to mend relationships with consumers and ensure that the high-quality standards are renewed? These are the critical issues that Target’s management faces. Concepts of Intercultu Discussion Questions ¢ Triangle of Meaning (the relationship between words, actual ‘ause of this mislabeling? branding mishap 1 Taking into consideration the concept, and communicators), 2 What actions can be undertaken does not happen again? 3. What are the optimal ways order to mend relationships and heal its reputation? what was the root c: by leadership to ensure that this type of for Target to communicate with customers and the media in Note 4. Authors: Patel, K., Kenney, K., Martinez, A., and Tuleja, E. A. (Ed.). References in Case 5 Bullseye: Target's cheap chic strategy. Harvard Business Barwise, P, and Mechan, S. (2004). heep://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4319.html (accessed May School, August 16. Retrieved from 1, 2013). DeNavas-Walt, C., and Proctor, ‘Current Population Reports. September 2015. Retrieved Censusilibrary/publications/2015/demo/p60-252.pdf (accessed August 6, 2016). Huffington Post. 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