2.0.0.10 false Advertising Costs 1050 - Disclosure - Advertising Costs true false false false 1 usd $ false false shares Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 USD Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 0 USDPerShare Divide http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 2 Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 0 tgt_NotesToConsolidatedFinancialStatementsAbstract tgt false na duration string No definition available. false false false false false true false false false false false false 1 false false false false 0 0 false false false No definition available. false 3 Advertising Costs 1 us-gaap_AdvertisingCostsPolicyTextBlock us-gaap true na duration string No definition available. false false false false false false false false false false false terselabel false 1 false false false false 0 0 <table style="font-size:10pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',times,serif;"> <tr> <td> 5. Advertising Costs         Advertising costs are expensed at first showing or distribution of the advertisement and were $1,167 million in 2009, $1,233 million in 2008, and $1,195 million in 2007. Advertising vendor income that offset advertising expenses was approximately $130 million, $143 million, and $123 million 2009, 2008, and 2007, respectively. Newspaper circulars and media broadcast made up the majority of our advertising costs in all three years. </td></tr></table> 5. Advertising Costs         Advertising costs are expensed at first showing or distribution of the advertisement and false false false Describes an entity's accounting policy for advertising costs. For those costs that cannot be capitalized, discloses whether such costs are expensed as incurred or the first period in which the advertising takes place. For direct response advertising costs that are capitalized, describes those assets and the accounting policy used, including a description of the qualifying activity, the types of costs capitalized and the related amortization period. An entity also may disclose its accounting policy for cooperative advertising arrangements. Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 93-7 -Paragraph 49 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) -Number 02-16 -Paragraph 6 false false 1 2 false UnKnown UnKnown UnKnown false true