Target CEO admits mistake in announcing controversial bathroom policy

Target CEO Brian Cornell has reportedly admitted that the company made a mistake in announcing the policy of allowing shoppers to use bathrooms and changing rooms that correspond with their gender identity.

Unnamed Target employees told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in a report on Wednesday that Cornell expressed his frustration about how the policy was publicized and told his colleagues that he wouldn't have "approved the decision to flaunt it." The CEO, however, ultimately made the decision to stand by the policy.

The controversial policy was announced in an April 19, 2016 blog post as a response to North Carolina's bathroom bill last year, according to The Christian Post.

The policy change prompted the conservative group American Family Association (AFA) to initiate a boycott against the retailer. The group stated on Thursday that the backlash had caused Target stock to lose 35 percent of its value and that it has "shattered plans" for major expansions.

The WSJ report noted that the retailer had lost "millions" in sales and added expenses, with sales falling nearly 6 percent in the three quarters that followed the announcement of the bathroom policy, compared with the same period last year.

Cornell had repeatedly denied that the company's plummeting stock prices and revenue decline had anything to do with the boycott. The CEO has vowed not to reverse the controversial bathroom policy, but the retail company has since made efforts to win customers back. In August, Target announced plans for a multi-million dollar renovation that will add private bathrooms in its stores.

The AFA, which has gathered 1.4 million signatures in the petition to boycott the retail store, has said that the company is in denial.

"The site's appraisal of the Target boycott is well off the mark. Snopes.com [a far-left fact checking website] is simply repeating Target's false claims that the boycott is having no effect on the company," AFA's Senior Vice President Buddy Smith said in March, referring to a report that claimed Target was not affected by the boycott.

"Target not only does not care about the safety of their customers, but they do not miss the 1.4 million families who are boycotting them and it seems they simply do not care enough to invite the boycotters back to Target," he added.

The retail company stated that "public pronouncements on hot-button issues" in the future will not be made without Cornell's approval.