Pro-life entrepreneur shares tips on how to get people to stop shopping at Target
A pro-life activist and business owner recently laid out suggestions for how to get conservatives to quit shopping at Target and other companies whose owners support abortion.
Sarah Seifert is the founder and president of the diaper company Everylife, whose husband, Michael Seifert, is the founder of PublicSquare, an app that helps users find businesses that align with their conservative values.
In an interview with former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson on her podcast “Politely Rude,” Seifert described PublicSquare as “the largest marketplace of pro-freedom, pro-family, pro-life businesses.”
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“There’s over 65,000 businesses now on the app,” said Seifert. “It allows consumers to be able to shop [at businesses] aligned with their values because there are so many businesses, from Starbucks to Burger King to Target, the list goes on and on, that are standing against the very things that many Americans … believe in.”
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Johnson talked about the challenge of getting conservatives to boycott Target, saying “it’s been crazy to see the response from some people.” Some respond by asking, “Where else am I going to shop?”
“It's going to take all of us to make some sacrifices,” Johnson continued. “To maybe shop in more than one place. Maybe you’re going to have to make that extra drive. Go somewhere else, go to two stores.”
Seifert also spoke about the Target boycotts that began a few years ago in response to the major retail chain expressing support for trans ideology and allowing, among other things, male customers and employees to enter the women's restrooms and girls' dressing rooms.
A new round of boycotts began earlier this year when Target leadership decided to roll out an LGBT pride clothing collection that featured assorted products with LGBT imagery and symbolism. Target also sold items from the Abprallen brand that featured satanic imagery and trans messaging.
Seifert said that while she believes “the boycotts were effective,” she nevertheless also felt “it’s not the end goal” and “there has to be a solution.”
“There has to be a next step,” she added. “Yes, stop shopping there, but where else do you turn? Well, you find the businesses — and, of course, I’m going to say go to PublicSquare to find them — and whatever you were getting at Target, let’s start getting it somewhere else.”
“It makes a difference, and it does actually impact society. It impacts culture. It is making a difference.”
Seifert also talked about the “parallel economy,” which involves shopping at businesses that are like-minded rather than companies — big and small — that don't share their values.
Johnson, who lives near the far-Left city of Austin, Texas, spoke about the value of being able to hire conservative companies for things like home improvement, calling it a “comfort” that “takes the edge off.”
“If I’m going to go hire someone,” Johnson said, “I feel so much better hiring somebody from the PublicSquare app because I’m like, ‘OK, they’re going to be in line with my values.’”
“I’m not going to have somebody show up to my house that has 55,000 pride flags on the back of their car. Or they’re going to walk in, and they’re going to see we have pro-life stuff in our house, and they’re going to say something ugly about it.”
Johnson stressed the importance of spending money at businesses of like mind, adding, “It is so worth it to know that your money is not going to support the abortion industry.”
“We need to take a proactive step to make a difference,” Johnson continued. “When you look at what the Target boycott has done to Target, it has made an impact. It does make an impact when we all band together, and we say, ‘We are going to make a collective difference.’”
“We’re not going to make a collective difference for a week, right? We do this for the rest of our lives. ... This is a lifestyle change; this is a mentality change. We’re doing this forever and ever.”
Earlier this year, Sadie Robertson Huff of "Duck Dynasty" fame garnered backlash when the conservative Christian podcaster and her family took a vacation to Disney World, a company known for its support of progressive LGBT ideology.
In a podcast episode responding to the criticism, Robertson Huff said that while she disagrees with some of the things the Disney company stands for, Christians are called to be "in this world and not of the world."
She cited Mark 2:13-16, which warns Christians to not pass judgment on other people because of where they are, adding that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.
"We're not saying 'this is an excuse to go sin,' because Jesus didn't sin when he sat at the table with sinners. Jesus did not become less holy when He sat at a table with sinners. He was always holy," she said.
"He's sitting with such unholy people in an unholy place, and they're like, 'You can't be holy if you're there. How could you be with them? How could you recline at the table with them and say that you're God?' But the thing that Jesus preached and lived is He is holy, and He is always holy, no matter where He is."
