--- title: Man Poses as Target on Facebook to Hilariously Troll Angry Customers description: When customers started angrily commenting on Target's Facebook page about its gender-neutral toys policy, one guy saw a comedic opportunity. canonical: https://time.com/3996746/man-target-facebook-troll/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-13T18:39:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:31:41.271Z og:title: Man Poses as Target on Facebook to Troll Angry Customers og:description: Customers were mad about the company's gender-neutral announcement og:url: https://time.com/3996746/man-target-facebook-troll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea2063f01fa9f794/69885f298e0601d3e6461dc8/target-store.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: A Target store in Mount Laural, N.J. on May 3, 2013. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man Poses as Target on Facebook to Troll Angry Customers twitter:description: Customers were mad about the company's gender-neutral announcement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea2063f01fa9f794/69885f298e0601d3e6461dc8/target-store.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man Poses as Target on Facebook to Hilariously Troll Angry Customers > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5fbc5002-1196-477b-a2c2-e9991a69473a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Target's Gender-Neutral Push Endorsed By Internet Troll [Watch (HLS stream): Target's Gender-Neutral Push Endorsed By Internet Troll](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5T6VFyGq.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2015-08-14. Someone made a fake Target-branded customer-service account to troll those who were angry about the retailer's move towards gender-neutral toy aisles._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 13, 2015 6:39 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 13, 2015 6:39 PM UTC When customers started angrily commenting on Target’s Facebook page about its [new gender-neutral toys policy](http://time.com/3989850/target-gender-signs/), this Facebook user saw a comedic opportunity. Mike Melgaard made a fake Facebook page and pretended to be a Target customer service representative, and then responded to the outrage over the company’s decision to stop labeling toys and other items by gender. “I definitely side with Target and support their decision wholeheartedly,” Melgaard [told AdWeek](http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/man-poses-target-facebook-trolls-haters-its-gender-neutral-move-epic-replies-166364). “That being said, this was, for me, more about the laughs. I absolutely love satirical humor, and I think America could use a little more laughter.” Target provided this statement to AdWeek in response: “At Target, we are committed to providing outstanding guest service to our guests wherever we engage with them—in our stores, online, or on our social pages. Clearly this individual was not speaking on behalf of Target.” Here’s some of Melgaard’s best work before his fake account was shut down: ## Transcript Target is getting rid of the gender divide between boys' and girls' toys and some people have a lot of strong opinions about this. I think it's a slap in their faces this whole gender neutral business is going too far. At first the idea there can have no gender, I thought, well. How am I gonna find their clothes? Or shoes? But the most visible action happened on Facebook where outraged customers complained about Target's new policy on social media. They were met with what appeared to be an unusually sassy customer service rep. The Target branded Ask For Help Facebook account actually belongs to Mike Melgard, who does not work at Target but supports Target's new initiative and found the trolliest way to express that. Target's not happy about having it's brand co- opted by an internet prankster, Melgard's account has been taken down and the retailer issued a statement, distancing itself from his comments. The prank probably hasn't been great for Target's PR. The retailer initially abolished the gender divide in the toy section, after facing pressure from shoppers. Target said in a statement, " preferences and needs Change and as guests have pointed out, in some departments, suggesting products by gender is unnecessary. Now Mel Garts comments have been reposted in articles, all across the internet. Along with the negative Target bashing post that inspired them. But the fake Target account does at least aluminate some of the absurdity of this discussion. As a writer for Time puts it, gender identity has nothing to do with signage in a store. 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