Target always seems to have a lot on its socially-conscious mind. Most recently, the Minneapolis-based, big box retail giant first pulled from then returned to its shelves a book seen by lefty activists as critical of transgenderism. Its return came after conservatives stood up and made their voices heard on the matter, as my colleague Jeff Charles wrote in an update last November.

We also covered Target reimagining, in the most “feel-good,” woketastic way possible, the Minneapolis location that was demolished by rioters after the death of George Floyd. Read Mike Miller’s take on that.

Then, just as the 2019 holiday season was getting underway, our own Alex Parker wrote a piece about, well, this: “Target Gets Woke for the Holidays, Introduces the ‘Gender Inclusive Gingerbread’ Non-Anatomically-Correct Cookie Sweater.” Make of that what you will, dear readers. For me, it brings to mind the company’s decision nearly five years ago to allow transgender people to use whichever public restroom in its stores they feel like.

Now, KABC-TV is reporting that Target has made another business move, led by their wokeness:

Target is the latest company to drop Chaokoh coconut milk over allegations of forced monkey labor.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said the retailer will no longer sell the product because of its alleged ties to monkey labor.

[…]

In a statement to USA Today, Target said it takes those claims seriously and removed the product in November.

“By dropping Chaokoh, Target is joining thousands of stores that refuse to profit from chained monkeys’ misery,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. “PETA exposés have confirmed that Thai coconut producers are exploiting monkeys and lying about it, so there’s no excuse for any grocery store to keep Chaokoh on its shelves.”

Looks like the megastore might have been taken in by animal activist terrorist organization PETA, which also nudged Costco to drop the brand last fall. Not only has Chaokoh denied the claim, but “[i]t previously said it audited its coconut plantations using a third party and found no use of monkeys for coconut harvesting.”

But here’s something Alex caught his piece at the time — even this could just be a temporary move, if Target does business like Costco did: the company will “continue to monitor the implementation of the harvest policies and once satisfied will resume purchasing,” Costco’s VP said in a press release.

Ironically, Target’s newest, well, target for removal might be in the clear, after all, according to reports.

For their part, the Publix retail grocery chain said the flap over Chaokoh’s product was much ado about nothing:

Publix told CNN Business that it has reviewed third-party audits of the company and that Thailand’s ambassador to the United States confirmed that monkeys are “not used in the commercial harvesting of coconuts.”

As these radical, economic threat groups often do, Costco and Target aren’t the end of PETA’s quest to save…monkeys from unfair working conditions, or whatever. Along with Publix, they’re aiming for Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the U.S., and Albertsons stores.

Chalk this up to one more example of woke, progressive companies getting pulled around by the nose with their so-called “good intentions.”