A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:
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Target’s Pride collection features ‘tuck-friendly’ swimsuits for adults, not kids
CLAIM: Target’s Pride collection features a bathing suit for kids that is labeled “tuck-friendly.”
THE FACTS: The “tuck-friendly” swimsuits are only offered in adult sizes, according to a spokesperson for the company and Target’s website. Kids’ swimsuits in the collection do not feature this label. But the store’s seasonal collection of clothes for Pride month has been the subject of several misleading videos in recent weeks. Many of the posts criticizing Target have also urged people to boycott the company, following similar threats and transphobic commentary from conservative social media personalities towards brands including Bud Light and Nike over promotional campaigns featuring transgender people. Posts criticizing Target shared photos or videos of either a one-piece swimsuit with a bright pink, orange, green and blue colorblock pattern, or black swim bottoms with colorful line stitches. Both feature a circular tag that reads, “Tuck-Friendly Construction,” and “Extra Crotch Coverage.” “Did you know @Target also sells ‘tuck-friendly’ bathing suits for children in the Pride section? Well now you do,” reads one post sharing a photo of the tag on Twitter. The post has received more than 4,000 likes. However, the swimsuits labeled “tuck-friendly” are only in adult sizes, and are not available in kids’ sizes, Kayla Castaneda, a spokesperson for Target, told the AP. Both the colorful one-piece and black swim bottoms seen in the photos and videos online are clearly labeled on Target’s website as adult swimsuits. Both pages list the products as coming in “general adult sizing” and offer adult XS as the smallest size for sale. “The ‘tuck-friendly’ swim suits are for adults only,” Castaneda said. The kids’ swimsuits in the Pride collection are not the same design or construction and do not have the same label, Castaneda confirmed. At a Target in New York City’s downtown Brooklyn neighborhood that the AP visited on Monday, the same adult swimsuits shown on social media featured the “tuck-friendly” tag, while a kids’ black swimskirt for sale instead had a tag reading: “Thoughtfully Fit on Multiple Body Types and Gender Expressions.” The Pride apparel for kids, adults and pets was located together at the front of the store, in an area often used for seasonal or limited-edition collections, and not in the children’s section. After the intense online backlash and some reports of in-store confrontations, Target removed some LGBTQ+-themed products and relocated Pride Month displays to the back of stores in certain Southern locations. Target declined to specify which items it was removing.