A man recently set up a Facebook account that impersonated the official social media account for Target, giving snarky responses to complaints about the company's decision to make signage more gender-neutral.
The comments have since been deleted, but people are still talking about the account.
Target made headlines this week after announcing it would remove gender-based labels from some store sections such as toys, bedding and entertainment. Not everyone agreed with the change, and some customers took to Facebook to air their grievances.
That's when Mike Melgaard stepped in.
Melgaard created a fake account called "Ask ForHelp" that used a Target logo as its avatar, according to his Facebook page. Using the account, Melgaard responded to complaints, but not always in the way customers expected.
In one comment complaining about the toy section, Melgaard (posing as Target) wrote: "We invite you to come separate the toys yourself. We just personally can't keep doing it anymore. It's a lot of work."
Melgaard captured images of his exchanges and put them in a Facebook folder called "Target trolling." It's unclear how long Melgaard trolled the Facebook page, but the earliest images in the folder are dated Aug. 10.
Ask ForHelp's comments have since been removed from Target's Facebook page.
"At Target, we are committed to providing outstanding guest service to our guests wherever we engage with them — in our stores, online, or on social media. Clearly this individual was not speaking on behalf of Target," Angie Thompson, an official spokeswoman for Target, told USA TODAY Network in an email.
On Thursday, Target posted an image of troll toys on their Facebook page with the message "Remember when Trolls were the kings of the world? Woo hoo! They're back and only at Target stores."
Melgaard responded, using his personal account, in the comment section.
"Target. Seriously. You are AWESOME," he wrote.
