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 Media Center >
Highlights of CHEJ’s Target PVC Campaign
- In March 2006, a coalition of 66 health and environmental organizations led by CHEJ sent letters to Target and other retailers requesting companies develop a policy and plan to phase out PVC products and packaging.
- Five months later, CHEJ met with Target and subsequently sent another letter expressing concern about the company’s lack of progress in addressing PVC.
- In the fall of 2006, CHEJ launched its public campaign seven months after initially contacting the company, calling on Target to phase out PVC. The national day of action included media events at over 30 Target stores across the country in CA, CT, FL, MA, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OK, OR, TX, VA, and WA. Activists held signs, banners, and wore hazmat suits. A giant 25-foot inflatable “rubber ducky” was displayed outside a Target store near San Francisco, representing a seemingly innocent consumer product made out of vinyl Thousands of fact sheets were distributed to customers at stores across the country.
- In response to the day of action, Target indicated for the first time in writing they were, “committed to exploring alternatives to PVC.”
- On the day of the campaign launch, CHEJ also launched a humorous animated video, Sam Suds and the Case of PVC, the Poison Plastic, online at www.pvcfree.org to educate the public about dangers of PVC and Target’s sale of PVC products and packaging. The video was viewed over 40,000 times within its first month on the web and was screened at Bioneers conference to an audience of over 11,000. The video generated thousands of petition signatures to the company. The day before the web campaign was launched, the Vinyl Institute launches their own website, www.vinylnewsservice.com, featuring videos attacking the campaign.
- In the fall of 2006, at CHEJ’s request, Working Assets sent a Target PVC action alert to over 250,000customers across the country. In response, over 23,000 letters and 1,000 phone calls were generated to Target’s corporate headquarters.
- In the spring of 2007, CHEJ organized a national day of action to coincide with Target’s annual shareholder meeting. Events were held at over 200 Target stores across the country. Events included protests, press conferences, flyer distribution to customers and letters hand delivered to store managers. CHEJ released “Way Off Target” report documenting how Target is lagging behind Wal-Mart and other retailers in phasing out PVC in children’s toys, shower curtains, and packaging. CHEJ ran an advertisement in USA Today calling on Target to “stop ducking the truth about the dangers of PVC”. CHEJ and Ohio Citizen Action held a press conference and protest outside Target’s shareholder meeting in Cleveland, OH. Representatives of CHEJ, the Sierra Club, and Ohio Citizen Action attend Target shareholder meeting, addressing the CEO and senior executives during the Q&A session. Petitions signed by over 10,000 Target customers and a copy of the USA Today ad were delivered to the CEO inside the shareholder meeting.
- Over the course of the campaign, Target has been contacted by over 40,000 concerned customers about PVC.
- CHEJ announces Target’s agreement to systematically reduce PVC in products and packaging by focusing on toys, infant products, packaging, and fashion accessories in the fall of 2007.
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