I saw the Target story show up in my RSS feeds last week and didn't write about it. Target doesn't care about bloggers, blah blah blah. This New York Times story made me change my mind. Nut of the controversy:
Early this month, the blog’s founder, Amy Jussel, called Target, complaining about a new advertising campaign that depicted a woman splayed across a big target pattern — the retailer’s emblem — with the bull’s-eye at her crotch.
“Targeting crotches with a bull’s-eye is not the message we should be putting out there,” she said in an e-mail interview.
Proper response from Target, IMHO: Thank you for your opinion. Improper response, also IMHO: This has to be one of the stupidest comments we've received from any of our guests in quite a long time. Don't you have better things to do?
There, I feel better now. :)
More seriously, there is a communications point here-- as "media" explodes, communication staff is under increasing pressure to make resource decisions, and those decisions are almost always going to be unpopular, but also will be increasingly necessary. If there is time in a day to respond to 10 interview requests or comment on 10 issues, and there is one person to do this -- you have to have a filter. And the filter needs to include understanding of audience (who are you trying to reach), analysis of who influences that audience (how do they consume information) and reach (which of this influence sources has the biggest impact/circulation/readership).
Here's betting that ShapingYouth.org wouldn't have made the cut in any way, had such a system at Target been in place.