Do your politics affect where you shop?

AP Photo/Craig Lassig: Protestors in front of a Minnesota Target following the company's …When Randi Reitan heard about Target's $150,000 donation to a Minnesota-based political group backing a gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay rights, she immediately went to the Target where she regularly shops, told the manager she could no longer spend money there in good conscious, and cut up her Target Visa card.

Reitan has been a strong supporter of gay marriage and other rights for gay people ever since her son came out 10 years ago, according to this ABC News piece.. Much as she may have loved roaming the well-coordinated, colorful aisles of the superstore, the news of the company's political contribution has changed where she will shop.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this year that private companies can make donations to political campaigns, overturning portions of a 63-year-old law. The ruling gives Target and other retailers the right to channel money into campaigns, but they clearly risk upsetting at least one group of voters every time a big contribution like this comes to light.

For consumers, reasons to avoid the stores we frequent seem to emerge often -- poor pay, shabby treatment of employees, and, now potentially, political contributions to candidates whose views we don't support. It all begs this question: