Dayton Hudson Loses Credit in Parenthood Tiff

Hundreds of longtime customers of Dayton Hudson Corp. are tearing up their credit cards and threatening a Christmas season boycott in a revolt over the retailer’s snub of Planned Parenthood.

The shredded credit cards began arriving by mail at Dayton Hudson’s downtown headquarters after the company confirmed over the Labor Day weekend that it was ending 22 years of financial support for educational programs at Planned Parenthood of Minnesota.

Spokeswoman Ann Barkelew said several hundred customers have returned their credit cards. On Saturday, about 500 people rallied outside a Dayton’s store in suburban Edina, where they repeated their vow to boycott all Dayton Hudson stores beginning the day after Thanksgiving unless funding is restored.

Dayton Hudson owns Dayton’s, Target, Marshall Field’s, Hudson’s and Mervyn’s department stores in 33 states.