By Chrishon Lampley, Founder & CEO, Love Cork Screw
How the Target Boycott Hurt Black Brands Fighting for Shelf Space
When Pastor Jamal Bryant launched the Target Fast (boycott) in the spring of 2025, I understood the assignment. Target had quietly rolled back the DEI commitments it made to Black communities after the murder of George Floyd, and a response was warranted. Economic protest has always been one of the most powerful tools in the Black community’s arsenal. The Montgomery Bus Boycott proved that. And by many measures, this one worked — stock prices fell, foot traffic dropped, and a CEO stepped down.
But here is what nobody talked about in those press conferences and media tours: some of us were already fighting to get in.
I am the founder of Love Cork Screw, a nationally distributed wine brand I built from the ground up. For years, I have been working to expand our presence in Target stores — one of the most coveted retail platforms in the country for a brand like mine. Not because I needed a logo on a shelf for vanity, but because Target is a launchpad. For a mid-size, Black-owned consumer brand, getting into Target means access to millions of new customers, national retail credibility, and a marketing footprint that no advertising budget alone can replicate. That door has been hard to push open. And just as I was pushing, the boycott slammed it shut.
I want to be clear: I am not criticizing the spirit of the movement. I am criticizing the strategy, specifically, a critical gap that I believe left millions of dollars of Black economic power on the table.
When the boycott went national, Pastor Bryant went on a media tour. He appeared on radio shows, television, and at press conferences. He rallied hundreds of thousands of people. That is no small thing. But at no point during that tour was I — or, to my knowledge, most small and mid-size Black-owned brands with Target distribution, contacted, included, or considered. The conversation centered on Target as a corporation. What got left out was the ecosystem of Black entrepreneurs whose livelihoods are directly tied to those shelves.
Tamika Mallory said it herself at the closing press conference: “When the boycott began, we made a very intentional effort to encourage people to support those brands directly. That effort also revealed challenges.” She acknowledged that many entrepreneurs did not yet have fully developed websites or distribution systems to quickly scale direct-to-consumer sales.
I heard that and I thought: I do. Love Cork Screw ships nationally from our website. We have the infrastructure. What we didn’t have was an invitation to the table.
Imagine if, instead of simply saying “stop shopping at Target,” the movement had launched a central platform, a website, or directory, listing every Black-owned brand currently carried by Target. Imagine if every media appearance had driven people not just away from Target, but toward us. Imagine if the message had been: “You want to support Black businesses? Here they are. Here is Love Cork Screw. Here is their website. Order directly from them today.”
That would have moved the needle in a way that declarations of victory simply cannot. The boycott demonstrated the economic power of Black consumers. A redirected spending platform would have demonstrated the economic power of Black producers.
The distinction matters. Large brands, the ones with national name recognition, multiple retail partners, and marketing teams, can absorb the turbulence of a boycott. For a brand still fighting to get from 200 doors to 1,000, still working a distributor in Michigan and a buyer in Ohio, still building the kind of momentum that gets you a national rollout, a year-long chill on Target expansion is not a minor inconvenience. It is a setback with real costs.
I have MBE and WBE certifications. I have been featured on WGN, CBS Chicago, ABC, and VinePair. I have sold over two million bottles of wine. And I still have to fight for every inch of shelf space. For brands newer than mine, or with fewer resources, the calculus is even harder.
The Target boycott officially ended on March 11, 2026. Pastor Bryant called it a victory, and there are real wins to acknowledge: Target’s $2 billion commitment to Black-owned businesses is now 97% fulfilled, partnerships with HBCUs have expanded, and $100 million in grants to Black-led organizations has been pledged. Those are meaningful outcomes.
But as we close this chapter, I hope the next movement learns from this one. Economic protest is most powerful when it does two things simultaneously: it withdraws spending from institutions that fail us, and it redirects that spending toward the people and businesses that represent us. You cannot do one without the other and call it a complete strategy.
If you want to support Black business, do not wait for the next boycott to know our names. Shop with us now. Visit LoveCorkScrew.com. The wine is excellent, it ships nationally, and when you buy from us directly, every dollar lands exactly where it should.
Chrishon Lampley is the founder and CEO of LCS Entertainment, Inc., the parent company of Love Cork Screw — a nationally distributed wine company — The Lampley Collection, CLINK Festival, and The Founders Club. She is a Chicago-based entrepreneur, speaker, and advocate for Black business growth.
